The unlikely adventures of a crime novel author
by Mia Foxcourt
Summary: Crime-novel author and avid Detective Conan fan Byakuya Rio finds herself in the DC universe after becoming the victim of a cold blooded murder. Saddled with an annoyingly optimistic Grim Reaper and knowledge of the future,that could end up getting her thrown into some hot water,will she manage to hide all her secrets from the scarily intelligent(and good looking)people around her?
1. Chapter 1:Blood red sunset

**Chapter 1: Blood red sunset**

" _Crap! My train leaves in five minutes!"_ Rio cursed under her breath as she searched after her smartphone in her skirt pocket since it contained her train ticket.

She immediately found it and completed the last few meters to the station in a sprint.

Two minutes later she was bracing herself with her hands on her knees, desperately snapping for air as she stood on the almost empty train platform,only seconds to spare until the train would arrive.

" _When did I get so out of shape?!"_ Rio thought with furrowed eyebrows as she wiped her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand.

She knew that ,in all honesty, she'd never been in a good shape thanks to her asthma, but when had it gotten so out of hand that even a short sprint like that was making her problems?

" _No matter."_ She decided with a deep sigh as she let her eyelids flutter close and stood up to her full height of 166.5 cm, enjoying the cold wind that was now playing with the strands of her dark brown hair, cooling her overheated body down in the process.

Back in Brighton, where she and her little brother ,Byakuya Satoru, had been born, she used to just vanish in the masses of average people, seeing as that was exactly what she looked like- average- but that had changed since they'd moved to Japan all those years ago. It still creeped her out how used she'd become to people staring at her because of her foreign features, thanks to her fully european descend, and sometimes she tried to cover up her face as much as possible with her dorky,round reading glasses and a face mask of some sort just to...blend in with everyone.

Rio opened her eyes again when her ears detected the familiar noise of the train arriving at the station.

It came to a halt in front of her just a few seconds later and she got in as soon as the door had opened enough for her to squeeze through, wanting to get home as soon as possible.

A quick look around the train told he'd that it wasn't packed full, but it still was emptier than usually. Her big,brown eyes lit up when she found that there were more than just a few unoccupied window seats ,so she quickly plopped down onto one of them before pulling her blue in ear headphones from her bag and plugging them into her phone.

The train set in motion when the first notes of the song she was listening to filled her ears and she felt a feeling of absolute bliss bubble up in her chest as she lost herself in the music whilst watching the lights, buildings and people of Nijimori flash on by outside the window.

Sitting on the train like this whilst listening to her favourite songs had always been one of the more simple pleasures in life that she loved and longed for every day since it always managed to lift her mood, no matter how grumpy she was.

" _Probably because it feels like I have no problems anymore and as if this train will just take me far ,far away without ever stopping as the whole world just silently slips on by to the rhythm of the music... Eh, why the heck am I so poetic today?!"_

Rio mused silently and her own inner conversation brought a small smile onto her face that she quickly hid behind her hand.

She opened her petroleum green backpack and pulled out one of the manga volumes that she was currently re-reading.

It was the 58th manga in the Detective Conan series, which she'd been obsessed with ever since she was just nine years old after one of her sempais had introduced her to the masterwork of Gosho Aoyama.

She was leafing through said manga when her phone pinged suddenly, making the teenager jump a bit in surprise.

She quickly unlocked the screen and scanned through the message she had just received

` _Looks like the release of your latest of your new book was a big success, Miyamoto- sensei._

 _You should really thank me, your wonderful publisher , for having your back during this._

 _But not with a necktie like last time...I know you picked out the ugliest one on purpose._

 _I really hated that yellow colour...and the bumblebees._

 _ **God no**_ _, not the bumblebees._ _(_ _ノ_ _ಥ_ _,__ _｣_ _ಥ_ _)_ _ノ彡┻━┻_

 _I'd accept a good word to my chef this time though!_ _(˶′◡‵˶)_

 _-R.M.´_

A grin made it's way onto the girl's face as she typed out a reply.

' _I liked the bumblebees._ _(´_ _༎ຶ_ _͜ʖ_ _༎ຶ_ _`)✧_

 _And I already told Kaicho to finally give you a pay raise._

 _He said he'd do it._ _(*´∀_ _)_

 _Look at you go Mom-kun, finally getting your life together._ _(´◉◞_ _౪◟◉_ _)_

 _-O.N.´_

She loved exchanging those playful messages with her publisher ,Ryuzaki Momiji, whom had been the one to decide to put his money on her and allowed her to release her first crime novel publicly under the alias of Ota Nao,ignoring the fact that she had just turned fifteen at that time.

A nostalgic smile flitted across the brunettes face as she thought back to almost two years ago.

To say she'd been overjoyed then would be more than a simple understatement.

Time flew by quickly as she just stared out the window and soon the speakers crackled and a soothing female voice announced that the next stop would be Chibaji station.

Rio silently protested as she got up from her seat and walked towards the doors.

She braced herself by gripping onto one of the metal poles as the train came to a sudden stop with a loud screeching noise that always managed to irritate the brunette girls eardrums, a fact which was evident by the displeased grimace that had found its way onto her pale face.

She quickly jumped off the train and hastily ran down the steps of the platform.

She cast a look at her watch.

"21:23, huh." She muttered under her breath.

Her mom would most probably not be home yet so she was still in the "green-zone" as she and her brother had so lovingly christened the time where they could cover for each other's absence if their mother called to check on them whilst she was still working.

"Lucky ~"

The brunette author hummed in satisfaction as her steps became more bouncy and the young author soon started skipping downward the hill of Chibaji station that lay completely deserted.

Rio soon stopped at a small intersection that was only being illuminated by one single street lamp.

Others might've felt a bit paranoid but since the pale teen had taken the same route home the last eleven years she actually felt safe.

Completely and utterly safe.

Her lips quirked up into another small smile as her brown orbs followed the movements of a few moths that had been drawn in by the artificial light of the street lamp, though she found herself thinking that it actually was quite cruel to laugh at the phenomenon since the moths would probably soon drop dead, not being able to escape the blind sighting light that they desired do much.

She was unpleasantly ripped from her thoughts when her phone pinged, announcing another message.

The loud had clearly startled the curvy teen, seeing as she cursed loudly before unlocking her screen.

' _Really?!_

 _That old geezer really agreed?!_ _Σ(_ _ﾟ_ _Д_ _ﾟ；_ _)_

 _Thank you so much Nao-Sensei!_ _o(≧∇≦o)_

 _And why do you always have to use the weird kaomojis?!_ _ಠ_ ___ _ಠ_

 _-_ _R.M.'_

"Geez Mom-kun, you scared the crap out of me…" Rio huffed, pocketing her phone without replying.

When she looked up again her eyes came to rest on the three different paths once more.

" _Either the quick way or the well lit way..."_ she thought, habitually tapping her fingers against her chin, as she looked at the two optional ways, a few cars and even an occasional person passing on by on either paved ways.

" _Or the shortcut!"_ She suddenly realised as her eyes fell onto a small path that led straight through a forested area that was completely shrouded in darkness.

"It's not like there'll be ghosts there." Rio joked ,trying to give herself a pep-talk as she took a few determined steps forward and stepped onto the dark trail.

The darkness seemed to swallow her up whole as soon as she stepped foot into the forest, though she figured that this would be quite the advantage since nobody would be able to see her.

She soon discarded that thought after a while though when she came to realise that she too wouldn't be able to see anything, so she quickly pushed the flashlight button on her phone and breathed a small sigh of relief as soon as the white light forced its way through the inky blackness of this summer night.

Her breath stopped short when she heard a muffled scream.

So did her body.

" _Move .Run. This is your overactive imagination, you're a crime-novel author for god's sake!"_ Rio thought, her mind running at an incredibly fast rate as adrenaline was being distributed all throughout her curvy body- making it a shaking mess.

But as much as she would've liked to continue lying to herself she knew at the same time... It hadn't been her imagination at all that had produced that sound of complete desperation and helplessness.

" _Just run! Get help from someone,Call Mom-kun and the Police! What can a teen like you do if this is something serious?"_

Rio scolded herself as she painfully clenched shut her eyes, wanting to shut out the sound of the scream that kept on replaying over and over in her panicked mind.

" _That sounds pathetic coming from a future homicide officer like you... Shouldn't you try to protect and save other citizens, no matter how afraid you are?"_ a small voice told her at the back of her head and Rio had, putting it truthfully, no freaking idea from which corner of her brain it had been born or crawled from- since she was one of those people that always talk big but freak when something scary actually happens.

She also had a strong sense of self preservation.

Her close friend Miyazaki Kanon had once gotten Bluestone William ,her childhood best friend, and her to watch "The ring" with them, but had soon regretted it, seeing as both teens had started bawling in fright after the first five minutes.

A determined scowl settled on Rio's face as she adjusted her flashlight so that it was now shining towards the direction that the scream had hailed from.

She decided that instead of stupidly calling out to alert a maybe-perpetrator to her presence she'd try and scare them off with her flashlight since there'd be no indication as to how many people were actually approaching.

After fighting through the thick forestry and beating through the bushes, continuously scratching herself in the process, Rio arrived at a small clearing.

Her blood ran cold as the white light of her flashlight sliced through the darkness and fell onto something that made her realise that she'd never escape.

It was over for her.

She'd only leave this forest in a casket- if they ever found her body.

Or the body of the woman that lay in front of her.

A scarlet liquid was oozing out of the battered woman's mouth and out of the stab wounds that were littered her whole body, dying it a brilliant red that glistened eerily in the artificial light of Rio's flashlight.

She felt like throwing up and running away as fast as her out of shape body could carry her.

Though she knew.

She knew already.

She knew the moment she had laid eyes onto the shallowly breathing woman that now wasn't among the living anymore.

She knew that _he_ was standing behind her.

"Plea-" she whimpered as soon as she felt the cold metal of presumably a knife bite harshly into the pinkish white skin of her throat above the sailor collar of her uniform.

It moved across it in a flash,too fast for to even register the blinding,hot pain that made everything in her vision explode into flashing white light.

Rio crumpled to the floor as the world swam before her eyes.

Her catlike, brown eyes brimmed with anger and hatred as a few tears slipped out of them when her killer crouched down to push a few strands of her golden brown hair out of her face.

She could feel _his_ breath fanning onto her cheeks as she etched every last detail of _his_ face into her brain.

Vowing that she'd one day be reborn and take revenge.

Vowing that he'd pay for taking her away from her friends and family.

Vowing to find out who the other victim was and bringing peace to her family.

Vowing to put him either in hell or behind bars.

" _That's if I'm not reborn as a slug... Why am I even so strange on my deathbed? Well I guess I've always had a peculiar sense of gallows humour."_

Rio let out a bitter laugh that sounded more like a gurgle through her slit throat as she heard steps moving away from her. That was when her crime-obsessed brain kicked into high gear, or would've if it wasn't for the blood loss making her go all woozy.

" _Slit throat. I've got about fifteen seconds until I pass out. Need to press down on wound."_ She quickly assessed in her sluggish mind as she pressed her shaky hands to her throat as best as she could whilst slowly inching closer to the lifeless body by her side.

Rio gripped onto one of the woman's still warm hands and closed her eyes.

If she strained her ears now she could hear the sirens of an ambulance screaming loudly in the distance... Screaming for her to hold on maybe?

No, It was probably just wishful thinking.. And she was just so _tired._

She let the darkness of the forest swallow her up completely as her now empty brown orbs fell onto her wrist watch.

She let out a gurgling chuckle when she realised that its battery had just died.

Her watch had stopped at the same time as the last shred of consciousness left her bloodied body that lay sprawled on the forest ground beside an already dead stranger.

At least she wasn't completely alone.

The last sarcastic thought on Rio's mind was how the one that had taken away her young life had been drawn to the light of her flashlight like a moth in the darkness.

" _Death has a strange sense of humour...Or was it fate?"_


	2. Chapter 2:Oz

Disclaimer: I (sadly) don't own Detective Conan/Case closed

Chapter 2: Oz

Byakuya Rio POV:

When I forced open my eyelids again they felt heavy.

Very, very heavy and for a split second I panicked and thought I wouldn't be able to open them.

The first thing that greeted me was the colour white, with a blinding intensity I might add.

I had to close my eyes again and blink a few times in order to adjust to the sudden change of the soothing darkness behind my eyelids to the completely white room I seemingly found myself in.

After a few minutes of coaxing my sore muscles and aching body I eventually managed to sit up, making the white blanket that had been draped over my throat fall down onto my legs.

I sat there ,numbly , not sure of what to do or where I was at the moment.

That was when it hit me.

I was ,no, _should_ be dead as can be.

I had my throat slit for god's sake!

My hands instinctively went up to my throat.

There was no open wound like I had expected there to be, instead my fingertips ghosted against skin.

Nothing felt out of the ordinary.

Or would've I hadn't caught sight of the ugly, jagged scar that stretched all across my throat in the reflection of the window.

"What the hell?!" I muttered, touching the scar tissue.

Judging from how well it had healed I would've judged it to be around five years old or so. But that was simply _impossible_ seeing as my throat had just been slit what felt like seconds ago.

I also knew that I hadn't been in a coma for the last five years since my reflection still looked the same as when I'd brushed my hair before going to school this morning.

I felt a pinch in my stomachs and I scrunched up my face as pools of tears gathered in the corners of my eyes.

Thank god.

I was _alive._

A few drops of hot, salty liquid dropped onto the back of my pale hands that were now tightly gripping onto my blanket, crinkling the fabric in the process.

Mom wouldn't have to plan a funeral with the little money we had.

I'd still witness my brothers first day of middle school.

William would still be able to call me ridiculous nicknames as I mocked him with sarcastic replies.

Kanon would still be able give me the biggest hug ever after winning another fencing match or cry on my shoulder when her next boyfriend would break her heart.

I'd still be able to break that assholes nose like I'd always done.

After I had calmed down a bit I simply decided to stand up. I was still confused about the whole already-healed-scar business and had no idea as to where exactly I was, expect the fact that I was in a hospital- which I was hoping would turn out to either be the one in Chibaji or Nijimori.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed I found myself in and as soon as I tried standing up I regretted it. My attempt ended in an embarrassing failure as I crumpled to the floor like a bag of bones.

" _Fuck this."_ I clenched through my teeth that I had pressed together in pain of the impact.

I used my aggression to fuel the strength I needed to crawl towards the window sill. I stretched up my hand until I had a tight and secure grip onto the metal sill and then slowly pulled myself up.

I growled at myself when I realised that the forehead behind my bangs had gotten coated in sweat from a movement as little as this. A wave of dizziness and exhaustion swept over me and I waited until it was over before taking my first experimental steps.

I soon regained my balance and was able to walk over towards the door that separated me from whatever waited on the other side.

My hand unsurely rested on the doorknob for longer then I'd like to admit before I pushed it down. A triumphant smile flitted across my face when I heard a small 'click'.

It was unlocked.

I opened it carefully and painstakingly slow as my heart hammered against my ribcage in anticipation. What was I even expecting? The truth? An answer? Would I even want an answer if there was one?

I at least had the presence of mind left to check the name plaque by my door.

 _Byakuya Rio._

Well at least they'd gotten my name right, which probably meant that my family had told them...right?

" _They could also simply have found your name tag or ID card inside of your school bag."_ The logical part of my brain told me but I chose to ignore it for now...there was no use in bringing myself down before even having found out anything- which was hard since I'd always been a realist and optimistic thoughts never came easily.

"I should probably go and ask someone in the lobby..." I thought out loud as I came to a halt in front of a lift.

I pushed the button and waited patiently whilst first becoming aware of the fact that I was wearing a pale blue hospital gown and that someone had pulled my hair ties out and fastened them on my wrists, making my golden brown hair now fan out over my shoulders and stop at mid-back length.

When the lift arrived with a small 'ping' I hurried inside it and instant pushed the ground level button with my left hand.

My breath stopped when I realised that my clock was working just fine.

" _I know that it stopped shortly before I..."_ my eyes narrowed at the thought that I didn't want to complete.

"So why is it working?" I asked no one in particular.

My train of thought was soon interrupted when the lift came to a halt and the doors slowly slid open.

My heart instantly dropped down to my stomachs when I took in the unfamiliar surroundings.

"Neither Chibaji nor Nijimori hospital..." I muttered, dumbstruck.

I had been to both hospitals before seeing as most of my friends, family and even me myself and I were more than just a bit accident prone... This hospital had nothing in common with either of them.

I gathered up my courage before steadily approaching one of the nurses that sat behind the counter by the entrance.

"Ano...I'm sorry but could you please tell me where I am?" I asked, making my best puppy dog eyes as I decided that it would be best to run with the 'lost child' scheme for a while.

"Ara, of course darling!" The elderly woman stated as a sympathetic expression instantly settled on her features.

"Could you tell me your name and room number first?"

"Byakuya Rio, Room 406A." I quickly answered, impatiently awaiting her answer to my question.

She typed in the info I had just given her in her computer and after reading through what I deemed to be my file she looked up at me with a newly found sense of urgency.

"Please stay calm now dear, I'm just going to call for a doctor that's going to ask you a few questions, okay?" she told me before pressing a call button.

I instantly freaked but stayed where I was.

" _What the f' is going on?!"_ I asked myself with my oh-so impressive vocabulary.

Just a few minutes later a young man wearing scrubs hurried towards us, totally out of breath.

"You called?" He said to the nurse, gasping for air.

"Hai. It seems like Byakuya-san finally woke up."

The nurse told him, motioning towards little ol' me that was probably looking more than just a little confused , judging from the pitying look the doctor and the nurse shared.

"Right then. I am Dr. Hibino Toma, If you'd just follow me Byakuya-san?"

he asked/demanded as he led me away from the lobby by placing a hand on the small of my back and pushing me towards the lift.

A short while later we found ourselves in my room and he motioned for me to sit down on the bed with an encouraging smile that wavered a bit when I just frowned at him, not feeling like acting all that nice after ,you know, having my throat slashed and finding myself in a completely unknown environment.

"I'll just have to ask you a few easy questions..." stated as he pulled out a pen and looked down onto the paper on the clipboard he'd been carrying.

"Where are your parents?".

" _Eh?"_

Hadn't Mom and Satoru come and 'claimed' me yet?

"My Mom lives here in Chibaji and my dad lives somewhere in England still." I replied ,intently watching the Doctors body language. He stiffened a bit before opening his mouth again.

"Chibaji? There's no such place here in Japan..."

he told me, his voice holding a careful edge as if he was expecting me to either explode or have a nervous breakdown... In all honesty, I was pretty close to the latter.

"There has to be! It's a part of Nijimori city, maybe you've heard of it?" I desperately pressed on as I crossed my shaking hands in my lap, silently praying that all of this was just a misunderstanding.

"I think you're a little confused right now Byakuya-san. A passer-by found you yesterday during a snowstorm, passed out with a high fever in the middle of a busy crossing. You are at Haidō central hospital right now."

My blood ran cold as my heart stopped for a few seconds.

"H-Haidō? And a snowstorm in the middle of summer?!" I knew that my hysteria was clearly audible in my voice, but I didn't care.

" _I swear I'll bash in his pretty face with his freaking clipboard if he's pulling my leg right now!"_ I cursed.

"Yes, You were brought into Haidō hospital since it was closest .And yes, it's quite strange, even the most seasoned meteorologists couldn't explain the snowstorm so they simply chalked it up to climate change." Dr. Hibino explained calmly.

" _There's no place called Haidō back home... What do I do now?!"_ I thought as the panic finally kicked in.

"Ah I'm sorry, I must still be out if it a bit. The truth is-"

" _The only 'Haidō' I've ever heard of...no. That couldn't possibly be true. But it's worth a try, isn't it? The good doctor probably already thinks that I'm batshit crazy anyways, so why not give him a good reason to."_

"My mom -Byakuya Claudia- is on a business trip to Europe right now and my Dad lives ,like I said, somewhere in England. I actually live in Beika- city."

I paled when the young doctor simply nodded and jotted down my reply, seemingly finding nothing wrong with it.

"Where in Beika-city exactly?" He asked innocently.

" _I what I suspect is true then it should be..."_

" Haidō-chō 18-chōme 3-banchi." I answered, simply replacing ‚'Chibaji' with 'Haidō'.

"Perfect. I'd like to keep you in the hospital overnight for simple observation but I'm certain that you'll be able to go home by tomorrow." Dr. Hibino told me and I just nodded stupidly, not able to really get a grasp on what was happening right now.

"Could I get my personal belongings if it isn't too much to ask?" I requested as soon as the young man made a move to leave, snapping me back into reality.

"That should not be a problem. You should rest up now, Byakuya- san." He said before slightly bowing to me and walking out the door.

" _Holy Shit."_

Two hours later I was still laying in my hospital bed, stock still as I stared up at the blindingly white ceiling with an empty look.

A nurse had quietly snuck into my room and left my schoolbag and uniform by the small table that stood beside my bed.

To say that I was in shock wouldn't be completely accurate.

I also wasn't panicking and one would also be incorrect in presuming that I was unable to process the information around me, but throwing all these things together and adding a pinch ,no screw it, a bucket of fan girl feelings would be pretty accurate in describing my current condition.

" _I died and ended up in a parallel dimension... Which just happens to be the DC universe?!"_ my thoughts didn't make any sense whilst actually making a whole lot of sense, which resulted in a pretty nasty headache.

" _Only one way to find out... I gotta get out of here either way since I doubt that I even officially_ exist _here, so I might be a_ teensy _bit screwed if dear Dr. Hibino decides to look up my address and information now..."_

I sat up, moving my body for the first time for the last few hours. I got out of bed and discarded of my thin hospital gown before starting to clothe myself in my school uniform which I noted had ,gladly, been washed and ironed at the hospital.

"Now for affirming my crazy theory..."

I muttered as I pulled my brown leather loafers onto my white-over knee sock clad feet before standing up.

"Mission 'Find and spy on any main character ever ' a-go!"

I said, fist pumping before moving out.


	3. Chapter 3:My angel wears black

**Chapter 3: My angel wears black**

"Mission impossible, more like."

I sighed loudly after having scouted every crack and cranny of the hospital without spotting anyone vaguely familiar.

" _I mean what was I even expecting... Parallel universes?!Detective Conan?! Sureee..."_

I quietly berated myself as I slowly trudged up the stairs to the roof since I was in desperate need of a breather along with some alone time that I knew I wouldn't be getting in the hospital park that was crawling with sick and injured people that somehow managed to worsen my mood by even looking at them. Another involuntary sigh escaped my lips as I pushed open the door to the roof, my heavy school bag slung over my right shoulder. A satisfied smile made it's way on my face when I realised that I was the only one that now stood on the roof under the great summer sky that had now begun to take on a fiery orange tint as the sun began to set. I walked over and leaned against the fence that was now the only thing protecting me from plummeting to my certain death on the asphalt that awaited about 50m beneath me. I closed my eyes as the refreshing evening wind picked up and started playing with the messy, wavy strands of my long, golden brown hair. A small layer of goose skin started appearing on my arms and legs as I started feeling a bit cold in just the cheap material of my school uniform, but I was quite robust when it came to cold things- the same could sadly not be said about opposite ,warmth had always managed to grate on my nerves.

" _I died today. I was reborn today. I'm in some sort of different universe. I'm kind of screwed."_

The train of thought ghosted through my mind as a bitter smile settled on my face just as a sudden gust of strong wind blew over the roof, making my hair fly everywhere as it tugged at my uniform, successfully managing to make my collar and ribbon float in the breeze just as I heard a 'click' that signalled the door to the roof being opened. My brown orbs made instant contact with a pair of jade green ones that widened slightly.

" _Smoking is bad for your health, you know._ "

The words had slipped from my mouth before I could stop them when I recognised the man in front of me.

And I was sure that he was aware of the fact that I knew everything about him as he stood in front of me.

In this world I was nothing short of a deity that could influence people's lives... Save them or let them die.

I realised that the exact moment that I said my first words, in a world that had proven my theory right ,to Akai Shuichi.

I was weirdly okay with that.

"Have we...met before?"

The words fell from his lips and I would've laughed at how cliché they were, but the problem was that I knew exactly what he meant.

"Well, If we haven't before we have right now."

I replied with a sly smile.

"Konbanwa"

I started saying, bowing my head towards him before walking past where he stood frozen, seemingly unable to speak.

" _Akai Shuichi_."

I finished my greeting just as the door snapped shut behind me.

Then I bolted as fast as my legs could carry me, the goofy smile that I'd been suppressing all the while now clearly visible on my face as my inner fan girl did somersaults inside my mind.

" _That. Was. Awesome!"_

I squealed loudly in my mind, prior to throwing open the door to my room and diving into my hospital bed, performing a perfectly executed belly flop whilst squealing like the teenager that I was. That was when something strange came over me and I suddenly couldn't move my muscles anymore. Panic settled in my brain before complete blackness reigned around me for the second time today.

" _Ah!Rio chan!"_

I groaned loudly before forcing open my eyelids. I had the strange sensation of floating in mid air and the fact that there seemed to be _nothing_ but blackness around me seemed to prove exactly that. I chalked it up to having a weird dream. That and the fact that my watch had stopped once more as I was glowing in a weird, pale blue light whilst a ghostly looking girl of about eleven floated in the air in from of me, also glowing.

" _Man_ , _Getting my throat slashed properly screwed me up if all my dreams are going to be like this...I hope I don't need therapy now...I might also throw a small tantrum if my watch really stopped again"_

I drawled whilst an unimpressed look settled on my face as I took in the broadly smiling child.

She had shoulder length, raven black tresses that seemed to suck in all of the darkness around her as her slanted, clear and unnaturally blue eyes bored straight into my soul.

Her lithe body seemed almost transparent and was clothed in a plain black dress that went down to her knobbly knees.

The eerie and seemingly misplaced grin never faded from her face.

" _But...why does she look so familiar?"_ I furrowed my eyebrows, deeply confused.

" _Don't worry Rio. This is very much real. My name is Tamiel and I'm a Shinigami from the Japanese main commando, 1_ _st_ _Division, rank 672 .I was ordered to guide you in this world .Your clock stopped because you are in the presence of a Shinigami in its real form right now, it isn't broken or anything- if I remember correctly it also stopped when I rescued you from your world."_

The girl giggled and did a curtsy.

" _Shinigami?!... Why am I not even surprised? You could've come riding in here on a giant Lobster and told me that I had to save some strange world with the combined powers of sarcasm and bad luck...I probably would've believed you at this point."_

I sighed as I slumped forward in exhaustion. My poor psyche could only take that much strangeness in one day.

" _The Shinigami division in your world kind of screwed up something, which resulted in your death... Oopsie!"_

Tamiel giggled, clapping her hands together, a gesture which ,along with her statement, made my left eye twitch uncontrollably in annoyance and anger.

" _So I died because you guys suck at your job?"_ I inquired ,seething.

"If you want to see it that way...But Mr. Shin figured that sending you to the universe that you so desired to live in would be enough compensation! That is why he took the Manga you had stored in your bag and sent you to this part of the timeline."

Tamiel explained cheerily as I shook with poorly controlled anger.

" _You don't get it, do you?"_

I inquired in a dangerously low tone of voice.

" _Get what? What couldn't be there not to love about this new life, Byakuya Rio? You're practically a god in this new world with your knowledge. You can become the 'Fate' ,'Hope' and even 'Despair' for the people of this world! Doesn't that sound exciting?"_

The little girl explained with wide, shining eyes.

" _Exciting?! Because of you guys I'll never be able to see my family again! I was supposed to congratulate my brother on his first day of middle school! I was supposed to be there for Kanon, for William! I was supposed to be able to say goodbye to everyone, to tell them that I loved them before dying of old age or something boring like that...I was supposed to_ _ **live**_ _!"_

I screamed with tears spilling from my eyes as I allowed myself to really grieve for what I had lost for the first time.

" _If that's how you feel you could simply go back ,you know?"_

Tamiel spoke as she pouted.

" _I can?!"_

I sniffled, instantly stopping my tirade as hope shone brightly in my swollen brown eyes.

" _But the moment you do there's a 99.98% chance that you'll die of blood loss as a result of having your throat cut by Yonehara Haruto ,a 37 year old construction worker that took revenge on his girlfriend, Himari Yuna, 34, by stabbing her around the chest area 41 times ,fatally striking her 19 times. You'll have three seconds left to live if you choose to return. All of your family and friends will know that you were killed by the hands of what human society described as a 'nobody'. They'll grieve, cry and when the time comes move on and forget you. Sounds pretty bleak, huh?"_

Tamiel drawled, not even moving a single facial muscles except those used for smiling and talking. My hopeful expression fell instantly. I knew that I had only screamed at her because I finally had found someone to actually blame for what happened. I wanted someone to let my aggression out on. That person just happened to be one of those that took my old life and gave me new one in its stead. Of course they'd see nothing wrong with it, that's what problem solving normally looks like- something breaks and you just replace it with something new and move on.

" _What happens if I stay?"_

I asked, my voice sore from screaming and crying.

" _Every trace of you will be wiped from your old world. It'll be as if Byakuya Rio never existed in the first place. No_ _one will have to grieve for you and no one will miss you because not a single one of the humans you ever had contact with will remember you. I'll stay by your side in some sort of physical form to guide you until you die in this world."_

Tamiel elaborated. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to be forgotten. The selfish part of me didn't want Mama, Satoru-nii, William,Kanon or Momiji to forget about me ,hell, even the thought of my teachers and neighbours forgetting about me irked me.

But I also didn't want them to grieve or feel pain over my passing. _**I still want to live.**_

" _I'll stay, Tamiel."_


	4. Chapter 4: The walking dead

**Chapter 4: The walking dead**

"You definitely took the whole 'looking like your sibling' idea a little too far."

I stated as I steadily gazed into the face of a seven year old me.

"You think so?"

Tamiel asked with a smile as she cocked her now brown haired head to the side.

"If you didn't get my sarcasm then I'll now politely tell you - _Yes!_ Way too far!You look like my de-aged clone or something..."

I sighed as I ran a hand through my own golden brown locks.

"If you say so..."

Tamiel's smile never faded as her whole body suddenly started morphing.

I was sad to say that I couldn't look away, too morbidly curious about everything the Shinigami did. Long, Golden brown hair morphed into a short, dark brown bob.

Almondish- round brown eyes became roundish and hooded charcoal coloured ones.

An ovalish round face gave place to a heart shaped one. A button nose was replaced by a sharper, more defined one at the same time as pale skin suddenly gained a health tan.

"I'm keeping the mouth and the beauty mark though, I kind of like them."

Tamiel grinned as she pointed at said appendages that looked exactly like my own.

"That was kind of cool..."

I admitted with wide eyes, still staring at the Shinigami that had just taken on the look of a completely different person.

"Thanks. From today on I'll be Byakuya Eri, your little sister. Please rely on me as much as you want, Onee-chan."

"Why does that sound so creepy and wrong when a god of death like you says that?"

I asked with a shudder before finally taking my eyes from her and concentrating on the grey asphalt beneath the soles of my shoes.

"Where are we even going?"

I inquired when the only reply to my earlier comment was Tamiel's trademark close-eyed smile that annoyed me more that it probably should.

"The house where Shin- sama arranged for us to take up residence. I'll explain everything you need to know about this world once we get there ,Onee-chan."

I felt shivers go down my spine at the use of the suffix and chose to stay silent for a while as I just continued following after the Shinigami in the body of a little girl ,that was skipping down the pedestrian walkway in front of me with a happy smile on her face.

"Why do you seems so happy all the time?"

I suddenly questioned, no longer able to contain my curiosity.

"What point is there in being depressed? It only serves to make your life more miserable than it already is and time just feels like it's going slower."

Came her simple reply.

" _Great. I'm stuck with an optimist."_ I groaned inside my head.

"It's also not very often that we Shinigami are allowed to actually walk the surface of the earth in physical form."

The little girl added as an afterthought.

"Because you meddle too much?"

I guessed with an unimpressed frown on my face that made Tamiel pout for the second time today.

"Mou, Some of us do I guess, but that is only because we are helpful creatures by nature!"

the Shinigami defended herself and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that.

"Sure, there's mostly prejudice that exists against us today because they often mistook us for evil entities and burnt us at the stake during the dark ages...I believe that humans have taken to calling us Shinigami that roam the earth 'Witches' because of that."

Tamiel elaborated.

"Doesn't exactly sound like your friendly neighbour next door."

I stated with a doubtful frown as I adjusted the position of the straps of my ,way too heavy, school bag over my shoulder once more in an attempt to get rid of the soreness it had caused during the last forty minutes of walking through the streets of Beika-city to god knows where as the sky above us turned dark and the previously scorching summer air turned chilly.

"You're a bit pessimistic Onee-chan..."

Tamiel pouted and I just gave her an are-you-for-real look ,which I had become an experienced pro at during my short life.

"I like to see myself as more of a realist. Living with or even talking to a Shinigami wasn't something I thought I'd ever be doing, so please forgive me for my skepticism."

I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Fine. I'll forgive you Onee-chan!" the girl stated with a bright smile, clearly not catching onto how un-apologetic I actually was which led to the most violent eye roll I had ever performed in my life.

I still regret it actually, it hurt like a bitch. That was when my eyes fell onto two very familiar houses in front of us.

"You're joking, right?!"

I cried out in panic as I started running to catch up to the little girl in front of me.

"Shin- sama thought that you might be pleased with this arrangement."

Tamiel stated with a smile that seemed more and more sadistic to me as she pointed at a big house that stood directly by the Kudō residence, just a block away from the Agasa household.

"District 2, block 23 at Beika-shi Beika-chō. Directly next to where Kudō Yusakū,Yukiko and Shinich normally live and neighbouring to Agasa Hiroshi's and Miyano Shiho's aka. Haibara Ai's residence."

Tamiel announced with a grand gesture as she pulled a pair of keys out of thin air. I wailed in hopelessness as my palm met my forehead.

"Well I guess it's good that we bolted from the hospital before Dr. Clipboard managed to confirm my address."

I muttered as I decided to simply give up for now and begrudgingly followed after the now humming Shinigami.

"Ah. That was never a problem. We simply wiped his memory of you along with that of the nurse."

"You can just simply _do_ that?!" I shrieked incredulously, my eyes wide.

"It was only necessary since Akai Shuichi went and asked about 'a western girl with a scar on her throat' at the information desk, so we had to wipe the staff's memory since we can't have him knowing your name yet."

"I see..."

I drawled ,not really understanding what the Shinigami meant to say with her statement.

" _But I guess it's good that the FBI doesn't know about me...would be kind of annoying to be put under surveillance just because they think I'm a member of Kuro no Soshiki or something like that."_

I thought and let out a relieved breath.

"Here. You open up, Onee-chan."

The little Shinigami stated with a grin and pressed the keys into my hand as we came to a halt in front of our future home.

The house seemed massive to me simply because I had lived in a rented three-room flat all my life and frankly didn't even know what I'd do with all the empty space in the red brick stone house that was clearly modeled after an European example.

I tried to swallow down the lump that had suddenly appeared in my throat as I pushed open the metal gate attached to two red- brick pillars ,the right one of which had a metal name plaque secured to it that proclaimed ' _Byakuya'_ whilst the left one had a round artificial light added that had the number 23 written on it.

I hesitated a bit before walking through the gate.

Would living here mean that I have to accept my fate?

Would it endanger me if I ever got close to the main cast?

I don't want to die a second time, thank you very much…

"Let's go inside."

The Shinigami stated after a minute of silence, standing up and tugging at my uniform top with her small hand.

I nodded numbly and forced my tired legs to move forwards.

Towards the unfamiliar house that somehow felt so cold and lifeless to me.

The house with too many empty room and too little noise.

Tamiel patiently waited for me at the blackened oak door that led inside the building.

I stuck the key inside the keyhole and turned after hesitating for a second since it all just seemed so...final all of a sudden.

The door swung open and revealed a spacious hallway.

I did a double take when I spotted all of the jackets and shoes I'd possessed back home orderly lined up on the clothing hanger and shoe rack ,along with children jackets and shoes that looked like they'd fit Tamiel.

"Ah ,looks like they've already arrived!"the little girl cheered and clapped before bounding inside to inspect her new clothes.

I watched the pipsqueak god of death in morbid curiosity.

" _Living for thousands of years would probably make everyone go a little insane."_

A ragged breath left my throat at that thought whilst I slipped off my leather loafers and pulled out a pair of slippers from the rack that seemed to be intended for indoor shoes.

"Look! Look !Onee-chan! Shin- sama gave me a yellow raincoat!"

an excited voice suddenly squealed, making me look up at the little girl that was now holding up said clothing article in front of my eyes, bouncing up and down in joy.

Joy that I wasn't quite ready to share into yet.

"Do you like yellow or something like that?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at her.

"Only Shinigami working as guides are allowed to wear yellow."

Tamiel explained with her widest smile yet, that seemed to stretch from ear to ear.

" _Almost like a Glasgow-smile"_ I thought with a shudder.

The Shinigami grinned ,seemingly not bothered by my lacking reply, before proudly pulling the jacket over her petite body. It felt a bit strange to see her wearing a raincoat indoors but I ,despite myself, didn't comment on it.

"How about explaining everything to me now?"

I requested of her as I finally put down my schoolbag.

"Hai! ~"

Tamiel chimed before grabbing my sleeve and marching me over to another room, which turned out to be a spacious kitchen with white tiled walls and a wooden floor.

I saw every kitchen utensil that I could possibly think of (which were a lot since I'd been cooking for my brother, mother and myself from a pretty young age because of mom's long working hours).

There was a giant fridge in one corner of the room ,directly by a large window that had a view over the garden, that could easily accommodate for a family of four.

A white cabinet with glass doors stood opposite the monstrous fridge and in it were great amounts of cutlery, plates, mugs, bowls, cups, pots and pans. Beside it stood another big, white cabinet that I could only presume to be filled with sugar, flour ,salt and the likes.

Tamiel walked over to the big mahogany dining table that stood in the middle of the room and pulled out one of the six chairs before climbing onto it and motioning for me to follow her example.

I pulled out the chair opposite of her and plopped down onto it, intently watching the Shinigami all the while.

"I wonder where I should begin ~"

"The start is usually a good option in such a scenario."

I commented, earning a pout from Tamiel.

"You're Byakuya Rio, seventeen years o-"

" Wait, seventeen?"

I asked furrowing my eyebrows at the girl.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything but I'm only sixteen, right?"

I inquired.

"Seeing as this world's timeline is one year ahead of yours you filled 17 just a few months ago, on the 2nd of may."

" _Well at least my birthday stayed the same..."_

I thought with a grimace as I motioned for Tamiel to continue.

"You and I were born to Wellington Claudia and Wellington Jared that died in a car crash in Haneda a year after I was born. You were around ten at the time and we'd lived in Brighton before that, which explains your fluency in english and ethnicity.

We were adopted by a wealthy couple in Beika by the names of Byakuya Tachibana and Byakuya Aoi that were close friends of our parents.

You were kidnapped six years ago on your eleventh birthday and the culprit demanded money. The police got involved and your kidnapper, Mamoru Hinato, tried to get rid of you by cutting your throat when the deal went bust, which is where your scar hails from."

I instinctively let the tips of my fingers ghost against the scarred tissue of my throat as I took in the information, storing it away in my mediocre photographic memory.

"I have a phobia of losing you again like I almost did that day which is why I am around you that much.

You don't really remember our real parents due to the trauma of the crash and the Byakuya's are currently starting up a real estate business in Hong-Kong, leaving me and the house in your care as they send you a monthly payments so that we can survive.

They also moved us into this house ,that we just moved into today, instead of their out-of-town one in Ekoda ,where you had been attending Ekoda high, since they thought that it would be more convenient for us."

Tamiel explained and I grimaced.

"Sounds pretty lonely."

I commented dryly and Tamiel simply nodded.

"You're to attend Teitan high class 1-2 whilst I'll enroll in class 1-B at Teitan elementary."

I groaned in realisation.

"So that you'll be attending a class with Edogawa Conan, Haibara Ai and the Shonen tantei whilst I'll be in the same class as Mōri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko, even Sera Masumi when she joins later on... am I right?" I concluded, watching Tamiel's smile grow with every word I spoke.

"You hit the nail on the head, as you humans always say!" the Shinigami nodded.

"That just seems unnecessarily risky..."I stated with a raised eyebrow.

"I was actually planning on becoming one of those characters like Vermouth ,that show up here and there to give some hints as to what is going on, but you actually know nothing about them ."

I explained to Tamiel.

"That would've been a possibility that you mucked up by speaking to Akai Shuichi. He has already made Edogawa Conan, James Black and Jodie Starling aware of your existence by telling them about your meeting on the rooftop."

The little girl scolded me with a pout, making my left eye twitch in annoyance.

"Why don't I just go and tell them that I'm a medium for the dead or some bull like that and say that Miyano Akemi possessed me to talk to Akai." I stated sarcastically, rolling my eyes at the short haired girl in front of me.

"That actually sounds great."

Tamiel stated with a decided nod, giving me a thumbs up.

"How about picking me up from school the day after tomorrow and telling Edogawa exactly that? Sounds like a plan to me!"

the Shinigami cheered, not even awaiting my reply which would probably have ended up being a snarky comment coupled with the action of letting my cranium crash into the dining table repeatedly that I was performing right now.

Sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut.

Especially around optimistic people.

Even more so around optimistic people that don't understand sarcasm.


	5. Chapter 5: New beginnings

A/N Wait, two chapters in one day?!What's happening?! The truth is that I already wrote up to eight chapters but I'm still editing them (woe is me)

so since I had a free period today I finished editing two chapters! :)

I do not own Detective Conan

Chapter 5: New beginnings

I yawned loudly and made some weird move in an attempt to stretch my back.

My eyes flitted in between the powder blue walls of the room that Tamiel had declared to be mine yesterday.

I had agreed as soon as my eyes had fallen onto the large bookcase ,stuffed full with crime novels that stood directly beside the large window that gave me a full view of the Kudō house.

At the left of the bookcase stood a sturdy ,wooden desk that had been painted white and on the wall above it hung a few pictures that I had drawn back home.

On the opposite side of the room stood the king sized bed that I currently found myself in, a pastel pink blanket wrapped around my shoulders.

Above my bed hung fairy lights that went on to vanish behind the white wardrobe at the foot end of my bed.

I had become curious and looked inside it yesterday. I was overjoyed when I'd found all of my clothes from back home.

A single white lamp was attached to the ceiling above me and a navy blue origami crane with a white dragonfly pattern hung down from it ,that Tamiel had put there in an attempt to cheer up the room.

I had thought about burning it or throwing it away first but ultimately decided against it...for reasons unknown to me.

I quickly got up when I heard a cluttering noise coming from the kitchen and started to smell something burning.

I didn't even bother to thrown on a T-shirt over the thin spaghetti-holder top I was wearing along with a pair of white underpants as I just charged down the stairs to the first story of the house and skidded into the kitchen in a state of panic.

"Everything ok-?!"

I broke of my ramblings when my eyes took in what was happening.

A young woman that closely resembled Tamiel's human form crouched over a broken plate, having been in the process of picking up the porcelain shards as I burst into the kitchen.

The 20 year old was now staring up at me with an innocent expression as smoke rose from a pan on the electric stove behind her.

I instantly rushed over and pulled it of the heat before throwing it into the wash basin and putting a lid over it to quell the smoke.

"You Idiot!"

I chided Tamiel before rushing over to crouch down by her side.

The Shinigami flinched and looked away from me.

"I'm sorry for breaking the pl-"

" That's not it!"

I interrupted her heatedly as I grabbed onto her hand and scanned it over with a worried look on my face.

"You shouldn't pick up those shards with your bare hands! You could've hurt yourself!"

I scolded the girl, slowly calming down when I saw that she wasn't hurt anywhere.

I was startled when the hand I was holding onto suddenly shrunk until I was faced with the 7 year old Tamiel again, a wide eyed look on her face as a few tears threatened to spill out from her charcoal coloured orbs.

"Up you go."

I sighed deeply, heaving the still unresponsive little girl to her feet after standing up.

I hurriedly looked away from her when I saw a strange expression on her face.

It just seemed so empty and exhausted.

And I just couldn't care for her.

Not yet.

Not if there might still be a way for me to return to my own world.

Not if there was a chance that we might become enemies one day because of my decision.

Because I'd probably kill her.

The question was if I could actually live with that knowledge.

"Leave the cooking to me,Tamiel."

I told her grumpily before letting out another ragged breath.

I was not in the mood for early morning drama.

Especially when it involved fire and shapeshifting god's of death.

The girl simply nodded before her trademark smile returned to her face.

" _I just consoled a god of death by treating them like a child..._ "

I realised and sweat dropped before moving over to the fridge and opening it.

A ghost of a smile made its way onto my face when my eyes fell onto quantities of maple syrup, milk and eggs.

" _Is this going to be one of these wonder fridge things? You ask for something and then it's just there? I certainly wouldn't mind that…"_

I pulled them out during my musings and put them on the countertop before walking over to the supply cupboard and rifling through it in hot pursuit of baking soda, plain flour ,vanilla sugar and plain sugar.

Approximately twenty minutes later Tamiel and I were sat by the dining table, a massive stack of pancakes drenched in syrup in front of each one of us.

"Itadekimasu~"

Tamiel cheered at the same time as I slowly drawled those words before she dug into her food like a starving animal.

I'm not claiming that I fared much better.

After the first bite went down my throat I finally realized how hungry I actually was and started scarfing down my food at the same pace as the Shinigami in front of me.

"That was good ~"proclaimed said god of death just a few minutes later, patting her bulging belly.

"Thanks I guess."

I stated evenly as I rested my head on the table, feeling dozy from eating so much.

"There's no time for sleeping now ,Rio-nee!"

Tamiel cheered, seemingly having been recharged by the food.

"We have to go and greet our new neighbours!"

At first I didn't get why she seemed so excited about the prospect off that and winked at me like we were sharing an inside joke or something, until my food drunken brain finally caught up with me and I shot up from my chair.

"You're right, we really should!"

I replied with a rare wide grin as my inner fan girl screamed for me to get a move on.

I charged out the kitchen and up the stairs ,taking two steps at a time, before throwing open the door to my room and instantly stripping after closing the navy blue curtains by my window.

I rummaged through my wardrobe and pulled out a fresh pair of underwear, a white tee with a grumpy looking black cat on it, a crème coloured flowy skirt made from stretchy fabric and a pair of white over knee socks.

I hurriedly clothed myself before bounding down the stairs again whilst pulling my wavy hair into its usual high ponytail.

"Shouldn't we give them a gift or something?"

I called out when I reached the bottom of the stairs, remembering the Japanese custom that my mother had practiced when we'd moved from England to Chibaji- making Satoru and I come along with her as she took the time to politely greet each of our new neighbours and presented them with a slice of cake that she had baked with Satoru and I.

"There might be something in the fridge..."

Tamiel called out from her room that was directly beside mine.

"There better be...Otherwise I'll simply make _you_ into some delicious BBQ"

I whispered under my breath before taking her advice and skipping into the kitchen, opening the monstrous thing.

"Where are you,you little-"

I cursed,even though being in a strangely good mood since the Shinigami had mentioned meeting Agasa Hiroshi and Haibara Ai, some of my favourite characters in the DC universe.

Maybe the professor would make me some sort of invention that could ward of Shinigami...it certainly wouldn't go unappreciated and he'd be saving the world one dead girl at a time.

"Atta!"

I called out triumphantly when I found a white box at the back of the fridge, which turned out to be filled with little cakes of different flavours when I opened the lid.

" _It's_ totally _one of these wonder fridges…"_

I carefully pulled the box out and put it down on the counter just as Tamiel came running down the stairs.

"Did you find something?"

she asked, poking her little head into the kitchen. I nodded with a blank expression and held up the box for her to see.

"Perfect! Let's go!" the Shinigami chimed and vanished again.

I grabbed the box and walked into the hallway where I quickly slipped on my brown leather loafers whilst watching Tamiel with a tiny frown on my face.

The little Shinigami was clad in a simple white summer dress and her beloved yellow raincoat as she sat on the floor, her face screwed up in concentration seeing as she was struggling with tying the shoelaces of her grey trainers.

"Let me help."

I sighed, swatting her hands away in order to help her.

When I looked up at her when I was done I saw it again.

That strange look of longing and pain that she had displayed earlier this day.

It quickly disappeared though when she replaced it with her trademark smile and thanked me before standing up and opening the door at the entrance.

" _Strange... But she_ is _a Shinigami, so she's probably wondering why I am treating her like a child ...but I just can't help it -when she's in this form my big sister reflexes kick in automatically."_

I realised with a sigh as I stood up and dusted off my skirt before taking up the white paper box again and heading out the door to where the female Shinigami was impatiently waiting for me.

"Would be a shame if they were out somewhere ~"

Tamiel drawled, shooting me a teasing look that quickly turned into a pout when I evenly replied

"Saa, I suppose that could be the case."

whilst pressing the doorbell by the door of the Professor's residence.

Seconds went by without anything happening until I could hear a slight shuffle inside, probably someone using the spyhole.

After another few second had passed the door finally swung open and my fangirl exploded with joy as my brown eyes landed on the deadpan face of Haibara Ai.

"Hai?"

she simply asked, looking at us questioningly.

"This is my Imotou Byakuya Eri and I am Byakuya Rio. We're the new neighbours that moved into number 23 ...we just wanted to introduce ourselves."

I stated with a friendly smile and a bow ,that I also forced a wildly grinning Tamiel to perform by pushing down her head with my free hand.

"Haibara Ai. Domō."

The auburn haired girl that stood by the door replied, nodding her head.

"Here."

I grinned, holding out the white cake box as the Shinigami giggled in the background, probably because of the suspicious looks that Haibara kept shooting us as her sharpened senses alerted her to the fact that there was something odd about the Byakuya " _siblings_ "...

Or so I guessed, it could also just be that she was staring at my scar whilst being as put off by Tamiel's constant smiling as I was.

"We're the same age, right?"

Tamiel suddenly asked after Haibara had taken the box, bounding up to the shrunken woman with a never faltering smile on her face that was so intense that Haibara took a step back.

"M-ma ne..."

the auburn haired girl stuttered, blinking her blue eyes rapidly.

"Then you're also attending Teitan elementary?"

Tamiel stated, more than questioned and I bonked her into the back of her head whilst hissing

"Manners!",not because I was concerned about such a thing but because I was afraid that the Shinigami might give something away.

More than just a little afraid.

"I am." Haibara nodded.

"Then could you please show me the way to school tomorrow?!" the little girl begged as she gave the shrunken scientist puppy dog eyes and pressed her hands together in a praying position.

"I guess. Be here at 8am."

Haibara agreed after seemingly pondering her choices for a while.

"Gomen!"

I mouthed silently as I looked at the auburn haired girl, but she simply nodded her head okay.

"Ya, matana!"

Tamiel and I spoke at the same time and waved at the little girl that stood in the doorway as we left, seemingly not knowing what to think about us.

"Ugh,we didn't even ask about her parents or anything like that!"

I whined ,going over the conversation with Haibara Ai for what was probably the hundredth time today.

Tamiel seemed to feel the same way ,judging from the groan that sounded from the light grey couch beside me.

"Oh come on, she's totally suspicious of us!"

I huffed, furrowing my eyebrows at the Shinigami that lay sprawled out over the couch in the living room, face pressed into the soft cushions in a desperate attempt to escape the heat that had drained us both of all our energy.

Otherwise I'd probably be outside somewhere- trying to escape the Shinigami instead of venting to her.

"Miyano Shiho is suspicious of almost everyone, it's one of her character traits."

Tamiel mumbled into the couch as I leaned back against the headrest of the grey armchair in which I was sitting, cross legged.

"Well you got that right..."

I admitted, feeling sheepish..

"Shouldn't you be more nervous about meeting Kudō Shinichi?"

inquired the short haired little girl, turning her head just enough to make eye contact with me.

"Saa,I guess I should...but I just really want to get along with Haibara, she feels like a lonelier version of myself."

I acknowledged with a grimace, narrowing my eyes at her.

"That sounds depressing, do you pity her then?"

The Shinigami laughed, making me frown at her.

"I don't necessarily pity her...sure her story is heart wrenching and you can't help but feel for her, but I mostly admire her. She's able to break down and cry sometimes whilst still staying strong and carrying on for the sake of others. I look up to her."

I ended my tirade.

"I've never read or seen anything related to the DC series that exist in your world so I don't know these characters like you do. The only thing I see when I look at them are their stats and the dates of their birth and death . I could also read up on them but I'd have to hand in a request at HQ for that...but I guess I can understand what you're saying, even though it is impossible for me to relate to Miyano Shiho at the moment."

The little Shinigami stated, a rare look of seriousness on her face.

"Shinigami have feelings?!" I questioned in an ironic manner.

The little girl just huffed at me.

"But can you really see everything you claim to?"

I asked, my curiosity having been spiked by her earlier statements.

"Byakuya Rio. Date of birth is the 2nd of may. Date of death was the 15th of April a year and three days ago. Your stats are as follows: Intelligence 91%, Adaptability 67%, Physical strength 24%, Creativity 94%, Karma 9%-"

I flinched at that and grimaced...no wonder I always had such bad luck.

"Physical health 97%, mental health 34% -"

"That doesn't mean that I'm crazy,right?!"

I interrupted Tamiel with wide eyes.

I mean I wouldn't be surprised but I'd still want to be prepared in case I'd have to fake being mentally sound.

"No, you have had low stats in that category ever since you became interested in becoming a homicide detective and read and wrote all those crime novels. It's low because you don't think it is creepy to want to work with mutilated dead bodies, like most normal people do"

"Gee, stop it Tamiel you're going to make me blush."

I sarcastically stated with a blank face.

"And lastly- ' _Seeing'_ 100%"

the Shinigami finished her assessment, ignoring my comment.

"Seeing?"

I asked, tilting my head to the right in confusion.

"It means that you have seen the future of the people that this world evolves around, the main cast -if you want to call them that. It also means that you're able to see Shinigami, otherwise it would only be at 50%"

the little girl explained with a smile.

"So I actually _have_ become a freak now... Great."

I complained with a groan.

"Don't worry about it! I'm sure you'll be alright!"

Tamiel told me with a wide smile as she made a peace sign.

"You're not even going to deny it?!"

I frowned, eyes narrowed at the seven year old.

My reply was an innocent close eyed-smile.

I decided to simply launch my pillow at the Shinigami's face.

A look of pure satisfaction creeped across my features when the missile found its target.


	6. Chapter 6: A sudden downpour

**A/N I just have to thank all of you for your kind comments so far! They've really managed to encouraged me to keep on writing this fic even though I was so unsure and nervous about it in the beginning...Thank you so much!**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter as well:)**

 **Disclaimer:I do not own Detective Conan**

 **Chapter 6: A sudden downpour**

"Byakuya Rio desu... H-Hayimemashite!"

I stuttered and bowed, a blush clearly evident on my face as I could feel my ears burning cherry red ,a bodily reaction to awkward bashfulness, and emotional distress that Kanon and William always used to call "the human traffic light" since it glowed so pronounced against my pale skin.

My eyes violently twitched in barely disguised anger as I remembered the nickname.

The class of around forty students had gone suspiciously quiet as soon as I had stepped through the sliding doors of classroom 2-1 and I could feel everyone's eyes on me.

" _Why does this have to be so freaking cliche like…?!"_ I whined, my eye twitching again.

"Byakuya-san just transferred here from Ekoda, so let's all welcome her."

Yuma-sensei encouraged the class, clapping his hands twice to cease the excited whispers and the chatter that had started between the students.

" _I hope you burn in hell right now for making me go through something like this, damn Shinigami!"_

I thought as I pulled down the hem of my blue, plaid uniform skirt once more in an attempt to distract myself.

Teitan's female summer uniform was way boring with it's simple ,short sleeved white button up, pastel yellow vest paired with either a forest green ribbon or tie.

And then there was the dreadfully short miniskirt that I'd been fussing about ever since Tamiel had thrown it at my face with a shark like grin.

"You did very well on your entrance exams, but since you lived in England before there might still be slight differences that you need to adjust to- you can talk to our member of the student council about that." The old teacher told me, motioning towards a bored looking teenaged boy.

"Hai,Sensei." I nodded, trying very hard not to show how Inattentive I actually was.

This teacher's voice was the most blasé thing to reach my ears in _years._

Not to mention how freaking embarrassing and absurd this felt, seeing as I'd attended the same school with William and Kanon most of my life, except for those years of living in England.

"You can take the empty desk by the window in the fourth row."

The ungracefully aged teacher told me and motioned towards it.

I simply nodded and let my eyes flit around the classroom whilst I hurried over to the desk.

My heart almost stopped when I realised that I had been seated directly in front of Mōri Ran and Sonoko Suzuki, whom sat directly behind the cyan eyed beauty that was now mustering me curiously.

"Yoroshiku Ne."

I greeted her with a small ,uncertain smile that she mirrored brightly, though her eyes did seem to widen at the scar running across my throat that was sadly being completely exposed by my uniform.

I heavily plopped down onto my seat and buried my head in the crook of my arms with a small groan before looking up again,grimacing.

My heart was still hammering against my rib cage and I desperately tried calming it down.

" _Why did I have to be seated_ directly _in front of two main/supporting characters?! Why?!"_

I cursed silently as I tried hiding my anxiety that I felt by playing with the tip of my high ponytail, that looked a little more rumpled than I would've like thanks to my wavy hair that just couldn't be tamed by any brush,before letting it fall back against my chest and rummaging through my school bag instead, pulling out my pencil case and college block whilst pretending to listen intently to Yuma-sensei's algebra lesson.

Though the sad truth was that I understood nothing, but I guess that's what happens when an annoying Shinigami tells you suddenly that you'll have to skip a class.

Fan- _f'ing-_ tastic.

After my heart rate finally calmed down to where it could almost be considered normal, the all consuming feeling of boredom settled in as I slowly got used to the thought that I ,Byakuya Rio, was by now -probably- an official character in the DC universe and that there was no going back.

How utterly exhausting.

I started doodling random pictures of cats onto the paper in front of me as I supported my throbbing head with my left hand (which resulted in me somewhat painfully getting my skin pinched by the leather armband of my watch), leaning heavily against it as a sudden sleepiness overcame me.

" _Oi. Rio-nee!"_

my head snapped up in an instant and I frantically searched the room, startling the boy that sat to my right.

I shot him a half-hearted apologetic grin when I realised that I'd probably just been daydreaming about that annoying Shinigami.

" _HQ to Onee-san! You're not daydreaming!"_.

"Can't I have a single moment of peace?"

I uttered silently as my pained gaze focused on a tree outside the window.

" _I have algebra right now... Can't it wait?"_ I tried to coax the little girl.

" _Exactly. It's Algebra."_ came her cheerful reply.

" _Touché."_ I mumbled into the palm of my hand, narrowing my eyes.

Well played Shinigami,well played.

" _Why are you in my head though? It's quite annoying."_ I questioned with a frown.

" _Establishing a telepathic link between a Shinigami guide and a traveller is possible at all times!"_

Tamiel chimed, sounding as if she was reading an infomercial out loud.

" _Can I take back my decision? I'd rather die from a slit throat ,painfully bleeding out whilst lying beside a strangers dead body ,than having you roam around my mind."_

I stated dryly, clearly unamused by the piece of information.

" _Aw~ Don't be like that, Onee-chan! Just think about how convenient this could be!"_

" _I'm really trying to, but I got the annoying voice of some seven year old girl in the back of my head, maybe you could help me with getting rid of it?"_ I snapped.

" _Fine. Be like that. I'll stop contacting you for now, but don't forget to pick me up today. I'm already quite friendly with Yoshida Ayumi and Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko so you'll most likely be meeting Edogawa Conan today. 16.00 sharp. Don't be late!"_

Tamiel pouted before I could feel her presence vanishing As everything went heavenly quiet once again.

I let out a deep sigh of relief and let my head fall onto my crossed arms that I'd placed atop my desk.

" _How the hell did that annoying Shinigami already befriend two members of the Shounen tantei-dan?! I can't even muster up the courage to talk to Mōri and Suzuki!"_

I whined in my mind and buried my head into my arms even deeper, wishing I'd been reborn as a somewhat happy and slimy slug instead of probably having to deal with death on a daily basis in no time.

" _Better savour my last moments of peace then..."_

I drawled with a yawn before slowly being lulled to sleep by Yuma-sensei's monotonous tone of voice as he went on about advanced equations and inequalities in algebra.

" _Byakuya-san?"_

I groggily raised my head from where it had rested on my folded arms and stupidly blinked at the person that had so rudely awoken me from my slumber.

I was about to fire a snappish comment at them before I realised who they were.

Which led me to quickly do a double take.

"Yuma-sensei asked us to show you around the school."

Mori Ran elaborated with a friendly smile as she first pointed at herself and the at Suzuki Sonoko at her side, who was grinning like a shark out for a quick meal and easy meal.

Standing behind them was a sheepish looking Hondou Eisuke.

I was dumbstruck for a moment, but quickly came to my senses.

"Sure, thanks!" I agreed easily, faking a radiant smile as I scooted back on my chair and stood up to my full height.

I internally sweatdropped when I realised that I was towering over all of them by at least five centimetres, except for Eisuke who seemed to be about the same height as me.

"What are your names by the way?"

I asked ,pretending not to know the answer already, as I took out the small wallet that Tamiel had (once again) produced out of thin air after I'd told her that I was too tired and lazy to make myself a bento for lunch time everyday, no matter how much I liked cooking.

"Ah, I'm Mori Ran." Said brunette introduced herself with another smile.

"And I'm Suzuki Sonoko!" her loud mouthed friend chided in, glomping Ran.

"Hondou Eisuke." the bespectacled boy awkwardly introduced himself, pushing up his round glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"Yoroshiku ne Mori-san, Sonoko-san and Hondou-san." I replied, for the first time acknowledging that those three were real as I politely inclined my head towards them.

At least they were as real as could be in this world.

I was talking to Mori Ran, Hondou Eisuke and Suzuki Sonoko right now.

And I sadly wasn't imagining it.

"Please just call me Ran!" the brunette said, seemingly flustered.

"And I am Sonoko. SO-NO-KO!" the strawberry blonde by her side huffed.

"A-ah you don't have to address me so formally!" Eisuke stated, sweat dropping.

I frowned.

I longed for the company of William and Kanon.

But they were back home.

And I didn't exist there anymore.

I was long gone, and so were their memories of me.

So I decided to simply play the foreigner card as I'd done so often to get out of sticky situations.

Sometimes it's a godsend to clearly look like you're from somewhere else.

"Don't hold it against me if I don't, I'm still adjusting to all the different suffixes and I'm having a hard time with it." I lied through my teeth, sheepishly rubbing the back of my neck.

The truth was that I just couldn't.

I couldn't call them by their first names yet because that would make everything way too real to me.

That would mean that I'd accepted the fact that _this_ was my life now.

But If ever there was a way back into my world that would assure my revival I would go back without hesitating.

Even if Mamma, my brother,Momiji, William and Kanon didn't remember me I would still be there for them, If only as a perfect stranger.

And I'd never stop searching for this miraculous way back, even if I knew that it was probably in vain.

Huh, And I call myself a realist normally.

Well I guess different circumstances call for different matters.

And different ways of coping.

" _Preferably without Tamiel ghosting around my subconscious..."_ I thought,grimacing.

"Oh, that's fine!" Ran replied, waving her hands in front of her.

"It's on! you'll be calling me Sonoko soon enough!" the cheerful Suzuki family member spoke up, fist pumping with a determined expression on her face.

" _No thanks...I'll pass."_ I thought miserably as I tried very hard not to face palm in front of the two Japanese girls and the comically clumsy boy.

" _You grew up in England then, right?"_ Eisuke asked me in fluent English that had a strong New Yorker accent.

" _I did. In Brighton."_ I replied easily seeing as it wasn't the truth.

In my own world I was born and raised there until I'd turned four. After that we'd moved to Japan until my first year of middle school after which we'd settled in Brighton again for some time before returning to Chibaji just in time to apply for High School.

My English had been better than my Japanese throughout my whole life though seeing as my mom had introduced the "law" of only being allowed to talk in our mother tongue when at home.

The only positive things I'd gotten out of the constant back and forth was a fluency in the two languages (I'm not even trying to include my crappy french here...those lessons were like the first layer of hell for me) and a broader world view.

" _Just ask me if you need any help with your Japanese."_ the blue eyed boy told me with a friendly smile and I accidentally almost scoffed at him.

" _Sure. Thank you Hondou-san."_ I replied with a polite smile before masking my emotions with a sheepish looking expression as I turned towards Ran and Sonoko.

"Could we start with the Cafeteria?" I asked in a small voice when the loud grumbling of my stomach interrupted my musings and our conversation.

"Sure." Ran's smile that followed her reply was so blindingly bright that I almost dramatically covered my eyes.

15 minutes later and I was happily munching on a big Kare-pan whilst chatting lightly with Ran, Sonoko and Eisuke . They had shown me all around school already after waiting for Eisuke and I to get our lunch at the overcrowded cafeteria and we were now on our way back to the classroom.

"Do you have any siblings, Byakuya-san?" Ran suddenly asked, almost making me choke on my food.

"Y-yeah, a little br-sister!" I quickly corrected myself after almost slipping up.

"Oh? How old is she? What's her name?" Eisuke asked enthusiastically.

"Her name is Eri, She just turned seven." I replied with a tight lipped smile, remembering that he too had a sister (though I didn't consider Tamiel that), only that our situations were quite different.

Where as he longed to be reunited with his older sister I would do almost anything at this point to get rid of my annoying surrogate one.

"Eri?! That's funny, Ran's mom is called Eri too!" Sonoko stated with a laugh.

" _She's right...how did I not realise that until now?!...That little brat!"_

"Funny coincidence." I laughed hollowly, secretly planning to murder the Shinigami in the most painful way possible.

" _I wonder if they'll melt like those demons in cheesy horror flicks if they come in contact with holy water?"_

"Do you have any siblings then?" I asked the two girls and boy, already perfectly aware of their answers.

"Yeah,an older sister,Ayako." Sonoko grinned before linking her arms with Ran's and mine.

"Well I guess you could call him my brother..." Ran mused to herself with a wistful smile.

" _Oh she's got it bad for you little detective...she'll be heartbroken if you leave as either Conan or Shinichi...good luck with that Sherlock."_

"So you do? What's his name?" I probed.

"Edogawa Conan, he's seven." She told me happily.

My heart ached as I vividly remembered my own brother, giving me one of his goofy smiles as his short, light brown locks fell haphazardly around his freckled face that lit up with the joy of having just told one of his astoundingly bad jokes that I'd still cackle at like a madman simply because his laughter was infectious.

"Maybe I'll meet him someday." I replied with another smile so fake it killed me a little bit on the inside.

"I've got an older sister just like Sonoko-san." Eisuke told me with a sad smile, almost making my heart ache in pity as I was painfully reminded that Hondou Hidemi aka Kir was his sister... and also a CIA member going undercover at Kuro no Soshiki, constantly having her life threatened.

"It's okay Hondou-san." I told him with an empathetic,genuine smile.

"E-eh?"

"Nothing." I smiled sadly, shaking my head.

"Do you want to hang out with us after school tomorrow?" Sonoko asked with a big grin.,gladly changing the topic

"Sure."I smiled, secretly relieved that they hadn't asked me to meet up today since it would look bad on me to turn them down...especially in favour of my little sister and some grade schoolers.

"That's a date then."Ran concluded with a smile,clapping her hands together like she always did in the manga and anime.

I sweatdropped once more.

At the end of the day I was just really glad that they hadn't asked about my scar, even though I could tell that they were more than just a little curious about it.

"Stupid Shinigami, stupid Tamiel, stupid parallel worlds and stupid everything!" I cursed under my breath as I hurried through the sudden downpour that had started just a few minutes ago, trying very hard to not have my schoolbag become completely soaked.

I might cry again if my notebooks were to be damaged.

And of course I'd forgotten to take an umbrella with me even though I'd managed to check the weather forecast.

Tamiel didn't have an Umbrella either.

I was already failing hard as a surrogate big sister,no matter how much I was acting like an evil stepmother.

I did have a sudden epiphany though as I passed by a Konbini store and my eyes met with the customary umbrella rack.

Conveniently propped full with umbrellas in all shapes and sizes.

Just a few seconds later I was hurrying towards Teitan elementary again, a sheer umbrella held triumphantly above my head as I clutched another small one in a disgustingly neon yellow under my left arm.

Being a villain was fun.

Even if the evil act just consisted of stealing two umbrellas.

" _I just stole a child's umbrella... I'm the worst_."I thought, but couldn't help the smile that flitted across my face.

This world was doing something to me, something not essentially bad but still bad enough in a "Whoops I non-accidentally stole your kids candy" kind of way.

But deep down I suspected that I had always been that way.

Maybe I had just been too afraid to show it?

Or maybe I just couldn't cope with my grief.

Both options sounded kind of depressing to be honest.

I was rudely awakened from my musings when a car drove by me.

Directly hitting a large puddle of water that had gathered at the side of the pavement.

It took me about ten seconds to realise that, even though I was in possession of a stolen umbrella, I'd been soaked to the bone.

"I hate this, I hate this, I HATE IT!" I cursed loudly, looking thoroughly grumpy and unamused used in my dripping school uniform and the dark hairs plastered to my wet face.

I felt like crying.

I'd always had bad luck but this was too much, even compared to what I'd gone through in my _other_ life.

I was currently seriously considering just to stand up Tamiel, though my feet were still moving on their own (soaked) accord, making annoying squelching noises with every step I took.

I sighed before lowering my umbrella completely and folding it together.

Might as well just give up on it ,seeing as I was already looking and feeling the part of a wandering drowning victim.

" _More like murder victim."_ I scoffed sarcastically.

At least the pouring rain offered me some peace of mind as it washed my head clean of any thoughts.

And it's not like anybody would be able to see me cry if I did it now, right?


	7. Chapter 7 : The fraudulent psychic

A/N: Sorry for the long wait on this chapter but I was really busy with school.

I still hope you enjoy the next part of this story though:)

Disclaimer: I don't own DC,I'd be filthy rich if I did.

 **Chapter 7: The fraudulent Psychic**

My mood was at an official new low when I finally arrived at the -strangely familiar- structure of Teitan elementary.

I was in no way, shape or form feeling up for facing the little grim reaper right now, and I knew it was showing by the way that a few of the small children on their way out of the school paled and went out of their way to avoid me as soon as they seemed to become aware of my murky and murderous aura.

I was pissed.

Ultra, mega, hyper pissed.

And it was all Tamiels fault.

Everything was _always_ Tamiels fault.

I couldn't wait to finally get my hands on some holy water, preferably right at this instant.

As soon as I spotted Tamiel, whom was still wearing her oversized yellow raincoat, I saw how the hopeful and smug smile she had been wearing instantly left her eyes and vaporized into fear when our eyes met.

My mood was lifted a bit though when I saw her hurriedly seek refuge behind the gangly frame of Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko.

Just a teeny tinsy bit though.

Not enough to forget my murderous intentions towards the pipsqueak grim reaper… and every living thing on this planet.

"Ah,Rio-nee! You're late!"

A vein popped somewhere above my temple as soon as Tamiel charged towards me (after quickly recovering from her initial fear)

" And you're annoying." I grumbled ,taking out the yellow umbrella from under my arm before offering it to her.

That was when I first became aware of the pair of eyes that were firmly trained onto me, holding a judging expression behind a pair of big glasses.

"So you're Eri-chan's big sis?"

A small voice, clearly full of curiosity, suddenly piped up from my sister's side and my heart turned into a puddle of mush as soon as my brown orbs met the big blue eyes of Yoshida Ayumi.

"Hai. I'm Byakuya Rio. And you four are?"

I directed my question directly at the grade schoolers ,except for Ai, who was standing firmly by Conan's side and looked like she was more than just a bit weary of me.

She actually seemed to be afraid ,judging by the way she was clutching the little detectives sleeve.

I'd probably do the same thing if I were her.

There was also a real possibility that the little detective had told her about the strange girl Akai had met at the hospital...leaving out the fact that he himself had ever encountered Akai,naturally.

Things could really get ugly if Miyano Shiho ever found out about that little detail.

" _I wouldn't want to be there to see that...wait,actually I do."_ I decided.

"We're the Shounen tantei-dan!" Genta presented them proudly before pointing at himself.

"I'm Kojima Genta."

"And I'm Yoshida Ayumi!" the adorable, short haired, little girl added in a cheerful tone.

"My name is Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko." the freckled, lanky boy ,that still protectively stood by Tamiel's side introduced himself with a little bow.

"Edogawa Conan."The little boy that looked exactly like he'd done in the anime greeted me,still giving me suspicious glances.

I gave him my best friendly smile and chose to try and play oblivious towards the glances he kept shooting at my scar.

"Edogawa Conan…? Are you the little boy that Mori-san in my class was talking about today?"I asked in a questioning manner, tapping a finger against my right cheek in "thought".

"Ah, you know Ran-nee?!"

The little boy seemed to perk up at the mention of her,clearly worried about his "not-yet-girlfriend" since he was still suspicious of me, and I simply shot him a knowing grin before nodding and turning towards the auburn haired girl at his side.

"And we already know each other, Haibara-san." I added with a small bow and another fake smile that made her dive behind the pocket sized detectives back.

"Eh?! You know Ai-chan?!" Ayumi,Genta and Mitsuhiko questioned loudly, almost making me take a step back at their loud voices.

"Yeah. We're neighbours after all."

If Conan hadn't been suspicious before he sure as hell was now.

And I could tell that he wouldn't be able to hold back his curiosity any longer.

"Ano...Byakuya-nee san,Were you at Haido hospital two days ago? I think I might've seen you there?"

I could easily tell that he was lying but chose not to call him out.

That would be pretty stupid.

"On Saturday?Yeah,I was there."I answered his question in an easy going manner.

"Alele? Then you might've met one of my friends on the rooftop?"he probed,completely in deduction mode by now.

"Ah,I'm sorry...I don't recall ever going to the roof...but maybe _she_ does."

I added cryptically ,putting my hand to my chin as I blatantly copied Kudo Shinichi's/Edogawa Conan's thinking stance.

"She?"His eyes narrowed at me ever so slightly, clearly picking apart every little detail of my answer.

" _You're not going to get past my lies if you're going to play it like this, Megane...I'm way too good at this game."_ I thought, narrowing my eyes at the little boy.

"You see, Rio-nee is psychic, sometimes she just blacks out and wakes up again somewhere else when the ghosts take control of her."

Tamiel chipped in, trying to sound as childlike as possible.

I almost gagged.

"Eh?!That's so cool!"

"Like a superhero!"came the combined shouts of the only three "real" children around me.

I could clearly tell that Conan and Ai weren't buying my words.

But I already knew that whatever I was going to say next would throw them down the deep end.

I directed my gaze at the little detective and Haibara Ai alone.

"If I remember correctly the name of the spirit yesterday was Miyano Akemi."

Their eyes grew wide and I could tell that they were shell-shocked.

Especially Ai, making me feel more than just a little guilty and I could literally feel the shame eating away at my insides.

"And she wanted to check up on someone's health?"

"Yes..and if I remember correctly she also wanted to tell a certain Shiho-person somethi-"

"What did she say?!"Ai interrupted me hastily, eagerly waiting for my reply.

"Hm?Oh! " _I'm sorry, it's not your fault."_ were her words."

I felt really bad for lying to Ai like that because I could tell that my words had a pretty big impact on her.

I also felt bad about lying about a dead person's last message to someone, even if they'd never find out about it.

...Probably.

I'm not taking chances anymore after finding out that Shinigami exist.

Boy-wonder was looking pretty out of it too.

"EH?That's so sad that ghost- san never got to this Shiho-person!" Ayumi proclaimed and I could see her eyes tearing up a bit.

"Nee-chan once told me that ghosts never really leave but instead stay and watch over their loved ones."Tamiel added with an ethereal smile.

" _I'd never say something as cheesy as that, you little pest."_ I thought, narrowing my eyes at her.

"That sounds really nice of them!" Ayumi cheered.

"What if they don't have any loved ones?" Genta asked curiously just as Tamiel pulled a juice box from her bag and poked it's straw through it, before sipping the drink with a smug look on her face.

I challengingly raised my eyebrows at her.

"Then they burn in hell,slowly and painfully."

I watched in sadistic pleasure how Tamiel painfully choked on her drink and started coughing violently.

"Ah,she's just joking Genta-ku-"

"Actually I wasn't, do you kids now how painful it is to be burnt alive?"

I asked,gesturing wildly with my hands in an over dramatic manner, shooting my _little sister_ a grin that just screamed payback.

You think I'm overreacting about a god of death poking around my head for a few minutes?

You think I'm taking out my anger about being drenched to the bone on her?

But seriously, me? overreacting?!

...probably.

But being a villain is a whole 'nother level of fun.

I could tell that I'd successfully spooked the group of kids so I just settled for a half hearted "I'm joking,I'm joking of course!"and waved my hands in a "please just forget about this" manner.

"I-I see." Mitsuhiko stuttered,looking a bit pale around his nose.

Wow, I'm always surprised at how great I am at scaring away kids.

And at how efficiently I do it.

Kudos to me. (painfully awkward pun intended)

"Ah-" I turned towards Conan again.

"I didn't do anything strange to that friend of your's two days ago,did I?"

I did my best to look as sheepish as possible, even rubbing the back of my neck to make my awkward performance seem more real.

"No...he didn't mention anything like that."Conan lied to me, clearly trying to avoid my question.

I sighed loudly in fake relief and let my whole body slump forward with a small smile.

"That's good…"

"There was that one time when a Soul possessed Rio-nee chan and made her kiss an old man."Tamiel giggled and I turned around to give her my best death glare.

She just grinned at me cheekily in return as the Shounen tantei-dan burst into laughter,save for the two shrunken geniuses that kept on looking at me with grim faces.

"Just don't tell anyone." I brought my finger to my lips with a sheepish smile and a small blush as I tucked a strand of hair my dark brown hair behind my ear.

I was still seething on the inside though...I would either rip off Tamiel's head as soon as we got " _home"_ or I'd kill myself on the way there.

And I was totally not having a problem with misplaced aggression. Not at all.

I think the sad thing was that I was actually aware of the fact that I did not like the little god of death at all.

Not because she'd ever given me a reason to ,but simply because of the fact that I'd ended up in another world as the result of a **mistake** that one or several members of her species had made,not because of Yonehara Haruto slicing my neck after brutally murdering poor Himari Yuna.

I should never have been there in the first place.

I shouldn't have _died_ there and then.

But all of that wasn't Tamiel's fault.

She was only the one that they'd assigned to look after me, to _protect_ me should there be any problems.

If anything I should probably be thankful to her.

But it just felt wrong to express those exact feelings openly seeing as I was an egoistical jerk that sucked at telling others about my emotions.

" _But I'll try to be nicer to a teeny tinsy bit."_ I thought, breathing out air that I didn't realise I'd been holding in.

"- _NEE-CHAN?_ "

"Hn?!"

My head snapped up quickly as I was brought out of my thoughts ,and my eyes locked with a pair of charcoal black ones that held some concern in rest of the Shounen Tantei-dan was looking at me with either badly disguised suspicion or confusion.

"I'm sorry Eri...I just spaced out for a bit."I gave her a tight lipped,close-eyed smile.

"Mou, you always do that!" Eri pouted, clearly still concerned.

"Anyways, I was asking if I could stay out and play with the others?" Tamiel asked, her request being backed up by Ayumi's,Mitsuhiko's and Genta's best puppy dog eyes.

"Sure,just make sure to be safe and don't you dare come home too late...dinner is at 8pm,but you already know that."I smiled at her with a nod before turning around on my heels.

The only thing that held me back was a small hand that suddenly gripped onto the sleeve of my still uncomfortably wet school uniform.

"Is everything okay, Byakuya-nee chan?"

I almost broke down then and there when Edogawa Conan asked me that question, even though I wasn't sure if he'd just asked because he was suspicious of me or because he was actually concerned for my wellbeing.

I settled on a shaky, reassuring smile and a clipped " 't think about it." before brushing off his hand, walking away towards my new " _home_ ".

I had intended for my words to serve as a little warning so that he wouldn't put his nose where it didn't belong but as I was slowly walking " _home"_ I'd realised that there wasn't anything for him to find anyways.

I just couldn't figure out why I became a little depressed at that thought.

In an attempt to cheer myself up I thought of my real home, but as soon as I'd started remembering pictures of my new supposed home started flashing across my view.

My realistic views saw it for what it really was...an empty,way too big house with too much room for two people that also held no memories of precious times shared together.

I didn't know if, maybe, it ever would. But at least I'd started to wonder.

That's at least a start if nothing else.

I was ripped from my thoughts when I sneezed violently.


	8. Chapter 8 : A job offer

**Chapter 8: A job offer**

I groaned loudly as I buried my head in my arms.

The damned thing had started throbbing painfully ever since I'd woken up and the only course of event I could logically blame for leading up to this massive annoyance was my unwilling shower in cold water that the damned car owner had oh-so generously given me yesterday.

I'd completely skipped dinner the day before and had instead opted to instantly lay down and build a cocoon of blankets around myself after making omurice for Tamiel and storing it in the fridge for her to to eat when she came home.

Which she never did.

To say that I was concerned was a slight understatement, even if I stubbornly tried to deny it.

Maybe I'd gone too far somewhere along the way?

Oh,who was I kidding...my treatment of her had gone way beyond the border of "pushing too far".

It wouldn't have been the first time that I'd been too thick skulled to accept something beyond my control and instead started to push people away a little too hard since I couldn't have it my way...which had resulted in me loosing a lot of friends along the way.

That tendency had often lead to Kanon calling me a control freak, and as fervently as I'd denied that back then I knew that it wasn't too far off from the truth.

Everything in my life needed to have some sort of structure or plan, I certainly wasn't a spontaneous soul..sometimes I'd even get angry if people didn't tell me about something that I was about to be involved in in advance.

William was exactly the same type of person ,which was probably another reason as to why we'd instantly clicked together like two pieces of a puzzle.

Kanon was another story...she'd always been more of a free spirit and would often drag William and I into the most crazy, impromptu adventures that would more often than not end in complete chaos.

But we'd laugh about it the next day.

There wasn't a single one of those unplanned trips that I didn't hold dear, even the one that had ended up with us spending a night in jail (Did you know that not all policemen like to eat donuts and that some of them actually _can_ chase after you like a rabid dog on steroids?!)

"Rio-chan, we're still on for today,right?"

Sonoko's voice drew me away from my memories...well that and the fact that she had slammed down both her hands onto my table with a big grin.

I grimaced a little before answering...her antics would surely only serve to worsen my headache.

"Yeah, Where did you guys want to go anyway?"I asked, genuinely curious as I supported my elbow on the table whilst resting my head in the palm of my hand, trying not to let my hidden worries show on my now expressionless face.

Was this how Serial killers felt? Trying to hide your true emotions behind a mask of indifference wasn't as easy as it sounded...but I'd manage somehow.

" _Come to think of it...I'd probably make a great serial killer…"_ I mused, making my face break out in a little smile.

" _Man...I'm such a freaking whackjob."_

"Well there's that little Café right where I live ,so we were thinking about eating some cake there...It'll be for free since dad got some voucher the last time he solved a case there."Ran told me happily as she leaned over her table ,that was placed behind, mine to hear us better.

Not that Sonoko's voice could get any louder.

"Sounds great...Where's Hondou-san by the way?" I asked,furrowing my brows since I sincerely didn't know, a fact that greatly disturbed a control freak like me.

"He went back to America." Ran told me with a sad smile.

" _ALREADY?!"_

Both the girls looked at me in undisguised surprise and shock as I shouted out these words, wide eyed, before becoming lost deeply in my thought,habitually tapping my Index finger against my right cheek at a rapid pace.

" _What does it mean for the plot if Eisuke already went back to America? Does that mean that this world only revolves around the main plot?...Or did I "become" the main plot for a few days when I arrived?... That actually sounds plausible- because of my appearance I must have at least thrown_ some _things out of order...let's just hope that this slight adjustment is all there is to that…"_

"S-sorry for screaming,I was just surprised...the Café sounds heavenly right now by the way." I acknowledged their idea with a content nod once more ,desperately trying to change the topic.

"Mori Kogoro...huh?" I then huffed under my breath with narrowed eyes after Ran and Sonoko nodded wordlessly, still somewhat taken aback by my outburst.

I really hoped that I wouldn't have to deal with the eccentric drunkard yet. Especially not today.

"Yeah, how'd you figure?" The brunette girl questioned with wide eyes.

" _Crap! You didn't think this through! Mission abort! Mission abort HQ!"_

I sweatdropped, already finding myself slipping up when it came to such simple things as pretending not to know about certain characters that hadn't been introduced to me yet.

" _Even though you were acting all high and mighty towards Megane yesterday..what was that again about "being too good at this game",eh?"_ I heard an annoying little mocking little voice inside of my head.

"A-ah...Y-you see, I just figured since you have the same surname and you said that he'd solved a case in that café...You also have some of the same facial features from what I've seen in the papers and on the news."

I stuttered, giving her an explanation that I'd, frankly, pulled out of where the sun doesn't shine.

"Whew- looks like we've got another detective on our hands!" Sonoko laughed mockingly and playfully elbowed my shoulder.

"Sure does." Ran laughed along with her short haired friend and I chuckled forcefully, glad to have avoided the trap I'd set myself.

The rest of the day went by relatively fast as teachers came and went from our classroom and one boring lesson followed the next one.

I used the time inbetween the lessons to try and contact Tamiel with " _the link"_ as I'd started calling it, but it seemed like the connection was dead.

How odd...and concerning.

" _Quit worrying, she's a Shinigami for god's sake, not a little girl like she's pretending to be..."_ I scolded myself as a frown settled on my face. Maybe I should cancel the outing at the café after all?

At that exact moment the school bell rang, signaling the end of the classes monotonous torture.

My sentiments towards school were clearly being shared by the rest of the class as we bowed in unison in front of Shigure- sensei, our Japanese history teacher, who gladly excused us without any homework.

"Hurry up Sonoko, Rio-chan!" Ran shouted to us over the scraping noise of thirty five chairs being pushed back on a wooden floor, a broad smile on her face- clearly already thinking of the sweets we'd be eating.

I heavy heartedly made the decision to worry about the little Shinigami later and to now concentrate on getting involved in the plot of this world without looking overly suspicious...Ran and Sonoko were my free-pass to doing just that.

" _really sounds like you're only using them for your own gain..."_

That wasn't exactly what I was doing but I guess it played too big a part in even trying to be friends with them to deny….I was and would always be a loner at heart and trying to _make friends_ wasn't exactly a phrase I'd use often.

William had just picked me up like a stray when he'd first moved to Chibaji and since we were the only non-Japanese kids in our kindergarten class (with him being a full blooded Canadian) we'd just stuck together from then on...well it was more like he took the rebellious and tomboy-ish little me under his wing, but that was a story for another time.

Kanon had somehow just dropped into our lives out of nowhere when she'd moved from Kyoto to Nijimori and transferred into our elementary school class.

From then on she never gave up trying to be friends with William and I ,since we were " _the only strange looking ones"_ , as she'd phrased it so painfully honest.

Well, what else would you expect from a seven year old?

Eventually we just gave up the struggle and our boring lives got a whole lot more interesting thanks to the cheerful Japanese girl ,that also just happened to be the National-junior champion in fencing and was already booked to take part in the world wide tournament six years later, our first year of middle school.

By then our little missmatched group had become inseparable, tied together by a read string of fate, strictly excluding the seven billion people around us.

We'd always been glued together, even if I was far away from home, namely Europe- but since some genius had invented webcams there wasn't really any problem.

And then there was also the fact that both Kanon's and William's parents were loaded with money and a short vacation in Europe didn't exactly make their budget take a big hit.

Now there were no webcams or planes to connect me with anyone I'd known before.

But I did like Ran- and even though Sonoko could be a bit annoying at times I couldn't deny the soft spot that I had for the girl…

Even when reading the manga I'd sadly always felt that she was being neglected a bit and also that most people were only writing her off as the stupid side character that equaled comic relief,just like how I felt that Gosho Aoyama gave Ran a strong sense of self that just didn't show when she was only standing there and crying for Shinichi ,making a nuisance of herself when I felt that the _real_ Ran would take matters into her own hands and kick some ass.

But that was just my opinion...I still felt as though the character in this world _did_ have a lot more own opinions and character traits then in the manga or anime...Or I could just be imagining things thanks to my pulsating headache.

The truth of the matter was that I really did want to become close friends with Ran and Sonoko...whilst achieving my own goals through that.

To me that didn't sound _too_ void of moral and emotion.

"I'm ready, but Sonoko looks like she's still fighting a battle."I shot a crooked grin at Ran whilst swinging my backpack over my shoulders, before pointing at the said short haired girl that was desperately trying to cram her history books and her collegeblock into her bag with a concentrated look on her face.

"Let me have a look."I sighed, moving over to the strawberry blonde before taking her things away from her, casting a schooled look at her bag that spoke of years of experience.

After shifting a few things and re-arranging them I finally could fit everything inside.

"How did you do that?" Ran asked in wonder as she came to stand beside us.

"Are you a wizard or something?!" Sonoko shrieked, looking at her bag and then at me again.

"No...I just read a lot of books ,and trying to fit them inside of your bag along with your bento box and school supplies everyday is a struggle that teaches you how to pack efficiently for the rest of your life.."

"...Well hat and I also played a lot of Tetris." I replied sheepishly.

We simultaneously burst into laughter.

"T-teris?" Ran asked, gasping for air.

"R-really?!" Sonoko questioned, panting from laughing so much as she clutched her stomach.

"Y-yeah.." I grinned, lost for breath.

We started giggling again.

"This cake is absolutely _heavenly~_!" Sonoko swooned, stuffing another mouthful of said baked treat into her already full mouth.

"It really is!" Ran sighed dreamily, making me grin at her over the rim of my coffee mug.

"The Tiramisù is great too." I complimented the dessert in front of me.

"Really?! That's so good to hear!" Enomoto Azusa, the young owner of Café Poirot sighed in relief as she pulled her serving tray closer to her chest, a broad smile making it's way onto her face.

"Though it could use a little more mascarpone cheese and the coffee clearly hasn't been soaking through the base for enough time ,so the flavour is a bit...flat." I evenly told the young brunette, that was wearing a lilac apron over her clothes.

"E-eh?" the three people surrounding me blinked stupidly, looking like I'd just recited the whole bible backwards or something like that.

"I didn't mean to insult you...I just cook a lot." I clarified as my ears turned beet red (There it goes again," the human traffic light")

"A-ah, then would you mind showing me how to do it instead, Byakuya-san?"Azusa asked, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck...looking like she already was prepared to have her request shot down by me.

...Did I really look and seem _that_ unapproachable to others?!

"Sure." I nodded, getting up from my chair.

"The aprons are in the kitchen, right?" I asked over my shoulder as I made my way over to said part of the Café.

"Ah, yes. The ingredients are all in the fridge and in the cupboard over there."Azusa told me, pointing towards the adjoining room.

"I know." I replied ,being able to perfectly recall the layout of the café,already planning how to go about making the tiramisú.

I didn't realise my slip up soon enough to take it back, though nobody else seemed to have noticed anything so I ,instead of worrying, started tying a simple black apron behind my back before washing my hands thoroughly.

I then went on to gather everything I'd need from various cabinets,drawers and the gigantic fridge as Ran and Sonoko chatted away with Azusa, gladly not paying me any heed...my cooking had always worsened thousand folds if somebody decided to watch me, so I was quite glad about being ignored as I did my thing.

Forty Five minutes later, when I was finally satisfied with how the tiramisú had turned out I carefully put it down on the table in front of Ran and Sonoko who instantly seized their chatter to curiously muster my creation as I waved for Azusa to quickly come over after she'd delivered the orders of an elderly couple.

"It certainly looks darker…" was the first thing she said, critically looking at the base before taking the fork I was offering her with nervous smile on my face.

There were few things that I was as serious about as my cooking and writing,so I'd probably take any criticism as an insult to my person…

Yeah.I was one of this kind of people.

"It's…"

I looked at her in anticipation after she took the first bite and I could see how Ran and Sonoko stared at her intensely as well, the latter even giving me a big thumbs-up.

"Absolutely delicious!" Azusa announced with a smile that stretched from ear to ear on her youthful face and I let out a breath I didn't know that I'd been holding.

"Really?! Let us have a try!" Ran cheered, ripping the fork clean from Azusa's hand with a determined look on her face.

"Rio-chan...this is...really good."

"Like _really_ good." Sonoko tried to convey after both girls had taken a bite.

"T-Thank you…" I muttered bashfully, awkwardly fiddling with my hands in front of me as I could feel my entire face turning red...being pale was a real curse in these kinds of situations.

"Byakuya-san!" Azusa suddenly said loudly, firmly taking my hand with a determined expression on her face, making me shriek in fright.

"Wh-what?!" I asked, wide eyed.

"Café Poirot is really short on staff right now so I'm offering you to work here!" Azusa stated firmly.

"E-eh?!" was the only response I could come up with as my brain was running haywire.

" _ **Hell nah sister**_ **!** _Turn it down! Bourbon will be working here later on and then you'll have to say bye-bye to your_ "I'm not suspicious in any way" _plan if you slip up even the slightest bit...that fellow's like really,really_ smart!"

" _ **Are you out of your mind?!**_ _Take the Job! You could make good use of the money and it might actually be a good cover if you ever need to get away with turning down other peoples invitations to go somewhere...or even for "_ accidentally" _snapping up certain pieces of information that you shouldn't know ,and also- eyecandy! Furuya Rei aka Amuro Tooru ain't ugly,that much you know...think this through before you regret it!"_

"Sure. As long as it's after school hours and I'm mostly off-shift on Sundays..." I agreed with a sigh and Azusa nodded eagerly ,accepting my conditions.

"Letter of resignation must be handed in one month early!" she told me playfully as she tried to make her voice sound stern.

"Hai hai." I waved her off, not able to suppress the small smile that crept onto my face.

"Look at you go!" Sonoko whispered after wolf whistling lowly, making all four of us break into laughter.


	9. Chapter 9:A heavy crown called guilt(p1)

**A/N** I'm really sorry for the long wait and I have nothing but my own laziness to blame for that...*sweats nervously*

Anyways, this chapter finally brings along the first official case for Rio,and a lot of interaction with official characters, so I hope you can forgive me...hehe...

It's also quite long so I decided to split it in two parts.

I hope you enjoy reading it^-^

 _ **Chapter 9: A heavy crown called guilt (part 1)**_

I felt absolutely horrible two days after visiting Café Poirot and getting my first job.

The headache I had the over the last days had developed into a full blown migraine and my involuntary car-shower had resulted in a major cold with fever and all the extra additions like cold sweats and shivers, leading me to skip over most meals and instead live of off easily digestible tea and crackers that I'd found somewhere at the back of the food cabinet.

Making my own food wasn't even an option when taking into consideration how sluggish I was feeling...I'd probably burn down the house or something like that.

Then there was also the fact that Tamiel still hadn't returned.

" _The link"_ wasn't working either and I was worried sick over the god of death by now (no pun intended).

The simple fact that I just _couldn't_ reach her in whatever way I tried made me uneasy to the chore.

What if she'd decided to abandon me after I'd been such an self absorbed asshole to her?

What If something had happened to her?

...I was actually pretty much convinced by now that something had happened to her and the feeling of not knowing _what_ exactly it was made things even worse.

There was also the fact that her homeroom teacher, Kobayashi-sensei ,had called me a day ago and informed me that Tamiel- or Byakuya Eri as she'd called her- hadn't been to school the day before and the following one.

I'd told her that Tamiel had caught a bad stomach bug and that I'd simply forgotten to inform the school since I had to care for the girl that was throwing up all over the place...I was not sure if that was even believable anymore but the kind teacher that I'd always cheered for when she'd appeared in the manga alongside Shiratori had seemed to buy my excuse and even empathetically told me to rest up and to tell Tamiel to recover as quick as possible.

That aside, I was also feeling incredibly guilty by now for simply pushing my concerns for the little death god aside two days ago to go off to have some fun with Ran and Sonoko...I even felt guilty for laughing so much with them when Tamiel might have been in danger.

The guilt was even eating away at me for forgetting about my family in those small moments of genuine joy.

About William, Kanon and Momiji.

About Tamiel.

About trying to find a way back home.

A determined look settled on my features as I sat upright in my in my cocoon of covers ,kicking at them until they untangled from my body and fell to the floor before I pulled my sweaty ,once white,now transparent nightgown over my head with shaky,clammy hands.

I traipsed over to my closet and pulled out a white sweatshirt with blue vertical stripes running along it ,seeing as I was freezing even though it was a beautiful summer day behind my drawn curtains that drowned my room in darkness-which,along with Ibuprofen pills, seemed to be the only thing to soothe my migraine a little.

I grabbed my cremé coloured skirt and a pair of white overknees along with fresh underwear before stumbling into to the bathroom at an annoyingly slow pace and taking a shower (which was quite a feat seeing as I came quite close to passing out a few time.)

After my shower I dried my hair thoroughly before dressing myself and pulling my favourite, grey NY baseball cap deep deep into my line of sight in an attempt to shield myself from any ray of sunlight that even had the audacity to try and get close to my eyes.

Then I determinedly moved out.

I was going to find Tamiel.

It didn't matter how long I'd have to search for her.

I was going to lecture her about simply vanishing like this before apologising for my own actions.

If I did that she'd surely come back, right?

She couldn't just leave me behind in this world.

I had no one here except for her who knew who I _really_ was.

It wasn't fair if they'd take her away from me too.

Well that's what I said but now, two long hours later, I was still wandering around the streets of Beika ,teetering on the edge of completely blacking out in the middle of the street with no clue as to where I should actually be looking for someone- or rather _something_ \- like a freaking Shinigami.

It's not exactly an everyday occurrence for me to have to search for one.

Let alone worry over one of those supposedly mythical beings that shouldn't even exist in the first place.

I sighed deeply and started massaging my aching temples.

"Eh?! Isn't that Byakuya-nee?!"

"Maybe she can help us Conan!"

"Come on let's ask her!"

"O-oi, Ayumi!Mitsuhiko! Genta!"

My head snapped up( a movement which resulted in a flurry of pain) in surprise when I heard the familiar voices of the shounen tantei-dan.

" _Not now...I'm down with the flu and now there's going to be little kids around me?! It will be a wonder if I haven't killed anyone by tonight...here's to hope."_

I quickly corrected my slouched posture and tried to suppress my shivers and the chattering of my teeth, not ready to give away the fact that I was about ready to faint.

"You sound kind of stressed Edogawa- kun...I sure hope you won't get any grey hairs at your age yet." I couldn't help but take a weak jab at the little detective.

His intense gaze told me that he clearly picked up onto my underlying joke. Haibara also seemed to understand seeing as she was hiding behind Conan's back again whilst casting glares at me.

Was I an official Black Organisation "suspect" now?

Yay for me…

" _So much for laying low you Idiot…"_ I thought to myself wit a small sigh as I went back to rubbing circles on my temples.

"Since you can talk to ghosts we thought that maybe you could help us with our case!" Ayumi told me in an excited manner.

"Souls...not ghost's.." I muttered,correcting the girl.

"Wait...What case?" I asked in realisation, clearly confused.

"Someone burned down our classmates house!" Mitsuhiko stated, sounding angry as he pointed behind him, for the first time drawing my attention towards the charred remains of a burned down building.

" _Oh joy."_

I knew exactly which case this was.

And I wasn't about to get involved in it.

Especially when I was sick.

I could clearly see that all the suspected residents and Inspector Yuminaga along with the policeman working for him were looking towards us with curiosity, seeing as the kids had just stormed from the crime scene to bother me.

I fully knew how invested they always got in those crimes, so surely I had to be someone _important_ for them to run to me like this.

 _ **Curse it all.**_

But there was still a chance of getting away from the watchful eyes of the one man that I specifically wanted to avoid if I ran _now._

I'd probably have to explain myself to the kids later on but that was nothing compared to facing _him._

And knowing who he _actually_ was behind his mask.

"Actually brats, I can't-"

"Hurry up,nee-chan!" Genta shouted before grabbing my arms along with Mitsuhiko as they started pulling me towards the crime scene.

"E-EH?!" I shouted loudly, trying to struggle against their surprisingly strong grip...which might have something to do with the fact that my body was being weakened thanks to the _freaking_ flu.

"N-no! Stop it brats!" I tried to lean away from them as I stopped walking- but they still pushed on until we were standing in front of a crowd of adults that looked like they had no clue what was going on.

"Is she another suspect?!" Inspector Yuminaga asked them, looking absolutely ready to restrain me should I try to bolt from the scene.

Which had been my plan up until now.

I was pissed now and my migraine was just making things worse.

"Really?! Did you win your badge in the lottery or something like that?!" I hissed at the brute looking man, making him take a surprised step back whilst raising his hands between us...which could be taken as a calming gesture but I knew that he was trying to shield himself from me… or probably my bad mood.

"You just had to drag me to a crime scene, didn't you?" I asked the shounen tantei-dan as I gave them my best death glare, making them all take cover behind an also scared looking Conan.

"Fine."

I sighed, gathering myself as I tried to soothed my migraine by massaging my nose bridge.

"Why , _specifically,_ did you need me?" I inquired, stressing the fact that I wanted them to get directly to the point.

"W-we thought that maybe you could tell us who started the fire…" Ayumi stated in a feeble voice, still hiding behind Conan.

"How would I be able to tell you that?" I asked, my patience wearing thin.

"W-well since you can talk to ghosts and all that…" Genta "confidently" spoke up for his friends.

I could literally feel every adult's judging gaze bore into my back, clearly thinking that I was a nutter.

Well under normal circumstances I'd totally joined arms with their (completely sane) side if anyone had ever told me that they were psychic.

"But nobody did die here, did they?" I told them more or less, wagging my finger at them.

"So I can't help you." I said, shrugging as if I really felt sorry.

"Maybe you could still take a look at his-"

"Diary, am I right or am I right?" I sighed in defeat as I accepted my fate of being involved in this case now.

"How did you know?!" Ayumi asked with wide eyes.

"A well educated guess." she seemed to deflate a little at my answer, probably wanting me to tell her something like "A ghost just whispered that into my oh-so psychic ear".

The green diary that the Inspector gave me was a little bit charred at the edges, but otherwise intact and I instantly started leafing through it even though I already knew what was written in there when it came down to the most crucial parts.

The only problem was that I had no clue as to _how far_ into the investigation they already were until I showed up…

Had Conan already conducted his interviews of the suspects?

That was probably the biggest question on my mind seeing as it was the most crucial part of the episode.

I decided to simply do my best to find out as discreetly as possible.

"Well it's pretty obvious that those three are _Red guy_ , _Yellow guy_ and _White guy_." I stated, jabbing my thumb at the three residents of the burned down apartment.

"And it also is pretty evident that _yellow guy_ was the one that committed the arson." I re-hashed all of the things written in the diary.

"Shouldn't you be asking Edogawa-san for clues instead of me?" I asked with a sigh as I gave the diary back to the inspector.

"Then shall I be _Kuroshiro-kun_ and make plain what's black and white right here?"

Conan questioned stated in full on deduction mode.

"I'll tell you which one among them is...the _yellow arsonist_."

He said in his usual cool manner.

"What does that mean, _the yellow arsonist_?" the man that i'd been trying to avoid in the first place spoke up, looking at the others in an inquiring manner as he pretended to be dumber than I knew that he actually was.

Damn that guy.

I snuck a look at him for the first time today, feeling a little more confident now that he'd actually given me a reason to discreetly take in his new look.

When I accidentally met his eyes though I knew that he'd recognised me.

Which was exactly what I'd wanted to avoid.

I hurriedly shifted my eyes towards the burnt down house again as I pulled my baseball cap even deeper into my face.

Not like it was of any use now.

I had to remind myself that his name now was Okiya Subaru and that I was to address him as that instead of Akai Shuichi, or else I'd screw up the timeline royally.

And I didn't even want to know the consequences of that.

Like at _all_.

At least Okiya Subaru did look totally different from Akai, with his short,sandy brown hair, glasses and totally different sense of style, judging from his signature navy blue shirt with a high collar that had a white trimming at the hem and his cremé coloured ensemble of a suit jacket and pants.

That difference would likely make it easier for me to see them as two different people.

"I thought I heard something about a diary or something…" The chubby ex-resident number two ,wearing a green sweater over a white button up, said.

His name was Makabe Ginya if I remembered this episode correctly.

"Ah,well...this diary is the one that belongs to the landlord's son of the apartment that caught fire, his name is Sugiura Kaito." the Inspector explained, holding up said item for them to see.

"It was written right there in that diary-" Mitsuhiko spoke up

"That the _yellow guy_ suddenly came home in the middle of the night and had a quarrel with Kaito kun's father."

"The three of you said…" he continued, trying to remember their statements, which gave me the needed information that I'd been searching for.

The interviews had already been conducted.

Conan was about to solve this case.

"That you'd gone out at the night of the fire and returned home in the morning...didn't you?"

"If that's so then somebody must be lying!" Ayumi said, almost making me laugh out loud at how innocent the girl really was.

Way to state the obvious.

"The one who's lying is the _yellow guy_ , who also set fire to the building!" Genta added loudly.

Just as he said those words a new wave of pain overcame me and I had to carefully prop my back against the stonewall behind me so that I wouldn't double over right then.

" _I'd literally offer up my right arm to be anywhere else in the world right now…"_ I thought , my eyelid twitching uncontrollably in an annoyed manner.

"It's true that I do know the landlord's son." Hosoi Ryohei, the third ex-resident of the apartment said.

There was a band aid plastered onto his cheek and he was wearing a comfortable grey hoodie and a pair of khaki shorts.

"Was that boy calling somebody things like _yellow guy_?" I suddenly spoke up, stealing the words that I knew Okiya Subaru alias Akai Shuichi was going to say next right out of his mouth.

I needed a way to distract me from the fact that every fibre of my body was aching, I was sick, I had a migraine and on top of that my supposed guardian angel had vanished without a trace...If those weren't enough reasons to play some sadistic form of "stop-copying-me" with somebody that was probably already suspecting me of everything evil in the world ,the I don't think you're human or have ever felt pain.

I almost apologised to the man however when he sent me a piercing look that seemed to dismantle all my secrets,boring straight into my soul.

"I don't know…" Makabe shrugged, unsure.

"Well now, it's just something a child said, so don't worry about it." the Inspector stated.

"But you have nothing else to go on, you're surely not just going to ignore this?"I asked, cocking my eyebrows at the man.

He hadn't seemed so unprofessional in the original story arch.

" _Maybe you're just not remembering this correctly..I mean there are_ _ **a lot**_ _of episodes and mangas that you could be confusing with each other right now…"_ I pondered with narrowed eyes.

He sweatdropped and I just shrugged, standing by my opinion as I let the wall behind me support me even more, shifting away all the weight from my aching legs.

Yuminaga then proceeded to crouch down in front of the kids and Mitsuhiko urgently waved me over after they'd talked for a minute or so.

I almost shot him another one of my icy glares but stopped short just when I was about to tell him off for making a sick person run around too much, only to realise that I'd never told them about my condition.

I let out a deep sigh before starting to walk over to them, grimacing in pain.

"No talking about the _yellow guy_!" Ayumi told me,cutely crossing her arms like an X along with Genta and Mitsuhiko.

"If they know he's the arsonist all three of them will say that they aren't the yellow guy, that's what the Inspector said!" Genta told me.

"Isn't it okay though?" I asked tiredly, making all of them look at me.

"I mean...They themselves don't seem to know who the _yellow guy_ is and I think I might've already figured out who the culprit is," I stated, sounding more confident than I was feeling.

I really hoped I hadn't forgotten any important detail of the case that I was about to solve.

" _You go, drama queen!"_ I could hear the little,crippled and dried out optimistic part of my brain cheer me on, only to instantly be silenced by a crushing sense of annoyance at everything currently happening around me and my nightmarish migraine.

"But I think Edogawa-kun might've gotten the answer before me." I sated with a shrug before hurrying back to my little spot where I leaned against the wall again. Salvation.

"Eh?! Byakuya-nee and Conan already figured it out?" Ayumi whined loudly, making the three suspects look at us.

"That's right. I already know who the _yellow arsonist_ is." Conan stated as he walked towards the three men.

"I'm pretty sure that we came to the same conclusion, Byakuya." the boy stated as his glasses flashed in the sunlight, obscuring any view of his eyes.

"I'm quite confident." I acknowledged with a small smile and a nod, despite the fact that shivers had now started to wrack my body again.

"H-hey kids,is that true?" the Inspector asked, still shocked as he looked between Conan and I.

"Yes." Conan answered him as I crouched down in front of Ayumi and motioned for her to give me the diary.

"Kaito-kun also mentions a _red guy_ and a _white guy_." Conan explained as he pointed at the diary in my hands.

"And we've simply figured out who these two are, right?" I asked the little detective with a crooked grin.

My head hurt like a bitch but I simply closed away the pain behind an emotional barrier until later, when I could let myself be overwhelmed by it.

" _Hopefully I'll have found Tamiel by then…"_ I thought, furrowing my brows.

Maybe I should've just passed up this chance to solve the case along with the little detective...delivering a length explanation would take a big chunk out of my strength that my body ,frankly, was in dire need of right now as to not shut down and to keep on searching for my surrogate little sibling.

Conan flashed me a big smile in return, which turned into a little frown when he seemed to take in my shaking hands.

"There's a red guy and a yellow guy too?" Hosoi asked, clearly taken aback.

"Yes...Let's see…" I stated, deciding to push on as I leafed through the pages once more, trying to find the right passage as I tried controlling the shaking of my hands.

"There! _The weather has been bad since this morning. But I have to get up early or I'll miss school, but I bet the red guy can sleep in late."_ I read out loud.

At least my voice wasn't shaky yet.

"Which means the _red guy_ does something every morning…but since it was raining that day it wasn't necessary to do that." Conan concluded.

"Something like watering flowers, which means that the _red guy_ is the ones that gives the flowers water every day." I told them.

"So that must be Okiya-san." the boy and I stated at the same time.

"But how did you know that- you weren't even here!" the Inspector addressed me, shooting me a suspicious look that mirrored the one of Okiya Subaru and the other two suspects.

I cursed inwardly as I paled a bit.

"A-ah Edogawa-kun told me about that!" I lied, winking at the boy in hopes that he wouldn't blow my cover.

He looked at me suspiciously but nodded his head at the Inspector in the end, seemingly finding no harm in helping me out this once, though I could tell that he'd definitely ask me about this later.

"But why is this young fellow called _red guy_?" Yuminaga voiced his next question.

"Remember, didn't you find lots of mini cars in Kaito-kun's room?" Conan followed up with another question, now directed at the man who simply nodded.

"Once you keep that thought in mind cracking the code is actually quite simple…" I continued on with the deduction.

"The _Red man_ is Aka-Subaru Okiya, since he's being compared to a fire truck by Sugiura seeing as he waters the plants every day."

I pointed at sandy brown haired man.

My eyes widened when I realised I'd almost slipped up and blurted out the bespectacled man's real name.

The calculating look he sent me made me more than just a little aware of the fact that he'd picked up on my mishap.

" _Shit shit shit shit shiiit…this was a bad idea"_


	10. Chapter 9:A heavy crown called guilt(p2)

**A/N** Phew...here's the second part;')

 **Chapter 9: A heavy crown called guilt (part 2)**

"If that's the case then _white guy_ also refers to the colour of a car, doesn't it?" Mitsuhiko concluded, making me thank him over and over again when Okiya's attention was drawn away from me.

"But there's a whole bunch of white cars…" Genta complained.

"An ambulance." Ai stated in a tone of voice that left no place for arguing as she stepped up from behind the others.

"In Japan, under the road trucking vehicle law the the body of the car is required to be white."she explained.

I was grinning at her all the while, momentarily forgetting about my bad condition as I got swept up in the moment.

" _Never thought I'd get such a kick from solving cases…"_

"I see...But who could that be...the ambulance?" Mitsuhiko pondered.

"Think about it like this...What does an ambulance normally do for you?" I asked, as I once again tapped my Index finger against my right cheek in a pondering manner ,trying to give the children aa simple clue.

"It transports injured people!" Genta shouted.

"They give you medical care inside the vehicle..." Ayumi said.

"Ah! That's it!" Mitsuhiko cheered as he pulled down the sleeve of his hoodie to reveal a band aid.

"Band aids!" he said out loud.

"The _white guy_ is the one that always gets injured a lot and carries band aids around with him because of that...so that must be Hosoi-san,right?"

"Exactly."Conan complimented him as I shot the boy an encouraging smile.

"Oh, the diary even says " _When I got back from school I feel down in the entry way. I'm glad the white guy was just coming out."_ The Inspector read out loud as he looked at the diary over my shoulder.

"Yeah, his knee was bleeding and I gave the boy one of the band aids I was carrying…" Hosoi pondered aloud.

"Then we're left with the _yellow guy…_ " Yuminaga stated with a thoughtful look.

"Taxis are yellow." Genta said instantly.

"But there are white and green ones too…" Ayumi shot down his idea.

"What about construction vehicles…?" Yuminaga announced his chain of thought.

"That would be the right answer." I nodded, looking at Conan to check if we'd "realised" the same thing.

It felt kind of strange to pretend that I didn't already know who the culprit was and to now be solving the case along with a shrunken Kudo Shinichi, who just happened to be the main character of a story-concept that I'd so adored.

But it was fun in a strange kind of way…

"Yes, In short,the person who has dirt under his fingernails." Conan nodded at my statement.

"Which would be Makabe-san,seeing as Edogawa told me about that small detail earlier on." I stated with a small, sadistic smile as I lied about getting the information beforehand.

I could feel his and Ai's eyes assessing me, knowing fully well that the little detective hadn't mentioned anything like that to me.

The man's reaction was instant, his eyes widened and he started sweating profoundly ,taking a small step back.

"W-what are you saying?!" he stuttered loudly.

"The dirt under my fingers is from playing a survival game in the mountains!" Makabe tried to defend himself.

"If I remember correctly you said that your clothes got ruined through being stained by a paintball gun?" Conan questioned the man.

"Uh,yeah." Makabe nodded.

"But in Japan what they use for survival games is air soft guns that shoot BB bullets, right Edogawa-kun?" I asked the little boy in fake surprise.

"Exactly, Paint guns are used in a different game called _paintball_." Conan stated with a smug grin.

"Oh?" Inspector Yumanagi took a threatening step towards the culprit.

"Th-those are mostly the same thing, aren't they?!" Makabe stuttered, taking another step back.

"But Paint guns use a water soluble ink that comes out clean when you wash it." I told them as I shifted on my feet, seeing as I was in immeasurable pain right now as small spasms ran through my body.

"Is that so?" the Inspector asked in an aggressive kind of way,advancing towards the man.

"A-ah well…"

"Moreover, Makabe-san, you said your favourite colour was the navy green used in camouflage clothing."Conan stated.

I accidentally laughed out loud and when I realised what I'd done I quickly hid my mouth behind my hand.

"Arere? Could you tell us what you found so funny, Byakuya-nee san?" Conan questioned his fake childish smile that always managed to give me the creeps somehow.

"Well...The colour that they normally use is camouflage clothing is called _olive drab_ if I remember correctly...really just because it has the word "navy" in it doesn't mean it's legit." I explained, crossing my shaky arms in front of me once more.

They were disgustingly clammy.

"Have you really played that whatever-it-was ball?" the Inspector asked in a dangerously low tone as he looked Makabe deeply into his eyes.

"Th-the thing is I'm just a beginner…" Makabe tried to defend himself.

"Well, shouldn't we just check around where the garden was in the apartment building?" I asked, making everyone look at me.

"Byakuya-nee is right, according to Kaito-kun's diary the _yellow guy_ was doing something suspicious night after night." Conan spoke, gladly taking all the attention away from me as he walked towards the charred remains of the building.

"And if we add in the fact about Makabe-san lying about the dirt under his fingernails…" I left my statement hanging in the air ,free for interpretation, as I started drumming my Index finger against my cheek again.

"We might conclude that Makabe-san was digging in the garden at night to avoid being seen." Conan finished our statement.

"He must have been burying something important there then…" I concluded with a low whistle.

Which was a mistake since it made my throat hurt like hell and I had to massage the skin over my airways to prevent an onslaught of violent coughs.

"And most likely that was…" Conan started saying-

"The money you earned as a day trader." we finished the conclusion together.

"What about it?" the Inspector asked the culprit loudly.

Makabe looked like he was about to try and defend himself before he slumped forwards like a hollow case.

"Two attaché cases…with money I earned as a day trader" he told us with a sigh.

"There's roughly two hundred million yen." he admitted.

"That much?" Yuminaga asked, clearly taken aback by the mentioned sum.

"Why would you bury it in the garden?" he inquired.

"So I wouldn't have to pay the taxes." Makabe stated simply.

"But last night when I got back from the movies...The landlord questioned me insistently after he'd found one of the cases...I got irritated and pushed him away, but he fell down the stairs…" the chubby man confessed to the happenings one day ago.

" He wasn't moving anymore and then I figured if I burned it all, just about everything would just be reset...an-"

I didn't even let him finish his confession seeing as a hollow sounding laugh escaped my mouth.

I knew that actually the Inspector was supposed to lose his cool and give him a much needed lecture ,which actually wasn't hard to imagine seeing as said man of the law was positively seething behind me and looked like he was about to explode with fury that he'd unleash from hell.

I put a calming hand on his shoulder as a warning to remain professional.

Kind of a joke seeing as I had totally my self control at the man's sheer ignorance.

Might have something to do with the fact that I was already dead, murdered at that.

"Listen here Makabe." I said icily, every last trace of my restraint gone.

" _Just who was was supposed to_ not _lose his cool here…?!"_

I faintly remembered angrily flinging the manga volume away from myself after reading the man's confession, wanting to get my hands around that man's neck and squeeze it very tight just to make him come to his senses, even though I couldn't really relate on a personal level.

But now I could.

And I wasn't about to let him go without giving him a piece of my mind.

"You don't get to reset this. That's not your choice to make, about who gets to live and who dies. For you it might have been a simple reset but for Sugiura Kaito...It would have been a nightmare he would never be able to wake up from. How could you ever even entertain the delusion that you have the right to decide what the worth of a human life is? Simply taking someone's most important person like that...doesn't that instantly make your life mean nothing? This is no game that you can play around with all you want. You simply don't have the right to."

I could feel the look that I was getting ,crawling over my skin, so in an attempt to avert all that attention from myself I took my hand off the seething Inspectors arm.

"You better be prepared to make up for this in full!" said man shouted angrily as he gripped the chubby Makabe by the front of his green sweater and lifted him in the air.

"Including to Kaito-kun and his father who got mixed up in this!" he continued.

I suddenly started feeling a bit woozy as everything in front of my eyes turned black for a second, almost making me lose my balance.

Gladly, I still had enough time to catch myself from falling seeing as I recovered so quickly.

I inwardly praised the oh-so supportive stonewall behind me for literally having my back.

I really hoped nobody had noticed.

"Inspector! We just got word from the hospital!"the young policeman suddenly shouted, waving his phone in the air.

"They said the landlords operation was successful and that Kaito-kun regained consciousness!"

"Oh is that so?" Yuminaga asked with a broad smile, lowering Makabe to the ground again as the shounen tantei-dan let out a collective cheer.

Even I couldn't help but let a small,relieved smile rest on my lips for a few seconds, though I'd been fully aware of how this case was going to end.

"Well,now you can rebuild this apartment building with the money that you hid." the Inspector commented as the other policeman cuffed the culprit that was obviously wallowing in self pity and regret.

"Yes,sir." he mumbled before being led away.

"But there's still one mystery remaining now, Isn't there?" Mitsuhiko suddenly spoke up ,looking like he was in deep thought.

"Yeah, why is Conan-kun's nickname _Kuroshiro-kun_?" Genta agreed.

"What kind of car is black and white?" Ayumi asked.

I decided not to tell them anything as I settled on watching them instead.

I'd always found it entertaining to see the little kids trying their best to crack down on mysteries that even most adults couldn't solve.

I also wasn't trusting my body to work properly right now and having to deliver _another_ lengthy explanation would surely take a lot out of me.

So I ,for once, kept my mouth shut as I stood on my two unsteady legs with my arms still crossed over my chest- now no longer to give off a certain look but rather to keep my body from being wracked by shivers and in a pursuit of warmth for my freezing body.

"I bet that's the car we police use, a patrol car." Yuminaga spoke up, looking towards said vehicle that was parked by in front of the burned down building.

"Since that's the most suitable name for the boy who puts the police to shame." he elaborated before saying his goodbye and walking away.

My eyes widened when he also acknowledged me with a respectful nod, though he seemed even more taken aback when I politely returned the gesture.

Well figures, I hadn't exactly been all smiles and sunshine earlier on.

"Well, how about we all go visit Kaito-kun now?" Mitsuhiko asked with a smile.

"Agreed!" Ayumi cheered.

"We should have the professor drive us since it's such a far way!" Genta added.

"Professor?"

I flinched when Okiya Subaru walked towards us, inquiring about the old man the kids were referring to.

I unconsciously scooted a little closer to the kids, as far away from the man as possible without making my movement obvious, though I could tell that Ai had picked up on it.

When I met the shrunken scientists blue eyes she quickly turned her head away and moved to hide behind her friends.

"You guys know a professor?" the sandy brown haired man asked again, crouching down in front of the kids.

I tried moving away even more, since suspiciously running away seemed like a better option than getting involved with the FBI agent in disguise.

I mean..thank you very much but **,no.**

"Yeah we do!" Ayumi nodded fervently.

"But he's always coming up with stupid games…" Genta complained.

"Oh,I'd like to meet that professor."

"I can introduce you!" Ayumi told him with a cute smile.

"I'd appreciate it." Okiya Subaru replied evenly.

" _One more step master Byakuya, just ooone more step…"_ I cheered myself on inwardly as I tried sneaking away without anyone noticing.

"Now that I think about it...Byakuya-nee, you've never met the professor even though you're neighbours, right?"

" _BUSTED!"_ I thought as Ayumi said those words just as I'd gotten ready to bolt.

I twitched nervously as I turned around to face them, frozen to the spot.

"That's right! I remember Eri-chan saying something like that!" Mitsuhiko nodded.

"Then Byakuya-nee san has to come along too!" Genta stated, looking about ready to drag me around Beika again.

"A-ah that's alright I'm sure that I'll meet him soon anyways, so you guys don't have to-" I tried protesting but the determined look in their eyes told me that there was no way out of this.

"Fine…" I sighed deeply, slumping forward, a move that made my migraine worsen even more to the point that it felt like little explosions were going off inside my skull.

I subconsciously flinched and let my hand wander to my aching forehead, flinching visibly.

"Ah- I've been meaning to ask you…How did you know the names of the tenants without anyone ever introducing them?" Conan suddenly spoke up, making me flinch in surprise.

A certain tingly sensation at the back of my neck told me that everyone was now looking at me.

" _Crap...I'd completely forgotten about that!"_

"A-ah that's-"I had to interrupt myself and a disgruntled expression settled on my face when I realised that I was slightly slurring my words and my legs were swaying dangerously und me, threatening to give out.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Huh?" the surprised sound left my mouth before I could stop it.

"I noticed that you seemed a bit unsteady earlier and were leaning against that wall behind you all the while as if you were having trouble standing up…" the little detective stated.

"Is that true Onee-san?!" Ayumi asked in a worried manner, taking one of my hands into her palm before instantly letting it go with a shocked expression.

"Your hands are really warm!" she told me with wide eyes.

"I'm fine." I told her with a tight lipped smile, even though being touched by their concern.

"You really are burning up." I flinched when the palm of a hand pressed against my forehead, pushing back my baseball cap a bit.

I flinched away from the voice violently.

The hand didn't bother me at all...It was who it belonged to that was the problem.

"It's alright. I'm fine." I hissed in a defensive manner, pushing Okiya Subaru's hand away in a hurry.

That simple action made the world before my eyes get fuzzy again as sounds, smells and colours all started blurring together in my head in a strange way that made me want to close my eyes.

Which was exactly what I did.

I felt my body slowly falling forward as I let sweet, soothing darkness take control over my senses and aching body.


	11. Chapter 10: Fever Dreams

**A/N: Well, here it is, the tenth chapter...I'm planning on having things pick up a bit from here on after slowly easing into them (the beginning of the story always felt a bit boring to me ,but it was necessary for what's to come).**

 **There is a lot of interaction with Okiya Subaru in this chapter, and since he's so difficult to write I'm still not sure if I made him too OOC...*sighs***

 **I still hope you enjoy this chapter though!:)**

 **Chapter 10: Fever Dreams**

 _My body had gone completely slack amidst all the thoughts running around my always buzzing mind, that was somehow being instantly shut down on itself ,as if somebody had flicked an "off" switch somewhere in my brain._

 _As if I had dived into cold water, it suddenly got harder for me to breathe as every muscle in my body went slack and a familiar, numbing coldness spread throughout my frame._

 _It was as if I was floating in very deep and dark waters, trying to stare up at the world above._

 _A world outside of my conscious state of mind right now._

 _A world as unreachable to me as it was to someone drowning in the middle of the ocean._

 _The strangest thing was that this ocean, having been drenched in darkness, seemed to have a clear, pulsing heartbeat echoing through it, resonating within my ears._

 _Voices flashed through my mind, some clearer than others._

 _Most of them were like whispers, only slightly brushing against my conscious mind- making it impossible to grasp them, whilst others were more present, almost within reach, but at the same time still frustratingly far away._

 _Then I could feel one of them forcing its way through the walls that I had set up in my mind to prevent going insane by the onslaught of voices and disembodied conversations that I couldn't assert to any clear order._

 _But this one whispering voice ,that seemed to echo from all directions at once ,was strong enough to break through my mental defense system, slipping through the cracks that had appeared in the barricades._

 _And I could do nothing to stop it._

 _So I simply decided to open my eyes._

 _Only to be faced with complete and utter darkness surrounding me._

 _Why had I even been sleeping in the first place?_

 _I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, making wrinkles appear on my forehead as a thoroughly confused expression settled on my face._

*So this is the human that Tamiel told us about.. _*_

 _I wanted to scream as the hushed, raspy voices echoed through my head, seemingly coming from all directions at once, but as soon as I tried to open my mouth it was as if my airways were instantly being filled with the strangely heavy darkness around me that painfully settled in my lungs, preventing any sound from ever building in the back of my throat._

 _Suffocating me just like thick, black water._

*It does not look like anything special to us...but it doesn't seem like we got the wrong one…* _The strange voice wondered aloud, It's words flitting through the back of my head before disappearing instantly._

*We wouldn't do this for a puny human under normal circumstances...but since that Shinigami asked us to do so in exchange for what we seek...We'll do what we must*

 _A dreadful feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I slowly started stirring, my body moving sluggishly as I tried to fight against whatever was holding me back...which wasn't an easy task if your breathing was as restricted as mine was at the moment._

*What's that...it can move? It shouldn't even be conscious right now...*

"Why? Who are you?!"

 _I figured that the darkness could hear my thoughts, observing that it seemed like it's only way of communication and it had heard me,even though I couldn't exactly talk normally right now, so I just gave it a shot._

 _*You can hear us?* The voices sounded surprised and the even heartbeat that had been pulsating through the inky darkness around me stopped for a second._

"Yes...Shouldn't I?" _I asked in my still sleepy state of mind, clearly confused._

*Ah...So Tamiel really wasn't lying to us...The girl did already die…* _the voices pondered._

"Tamiel...Do you know where Tamiel is?!" _I asked as I finally caught up with the fact that the darkness seemed to know the little grim reaper personally._

"She left for where you physically are just a few minutes ago...We can only take visits of one person at a time or this niche dimension would collapse on itself...We wouldn't like it very much if that happened.*

 _The voices in the dark hummed, sounding slightly concerned about the last part._

"Who are you…?" _I repeated my question from earlier in my sleep drunken mind._

"They call us the Augur, little human."

"The Augur? And why are you playing the pronoun game- who's "they"?" _I inquired, slurring my words a bit inside of my head._

"They is they. They is us. They is you, we, them, everybody and nobody, curious child." _the voices murmured cryptically._

"And you are vague." _I almost snapped back, feeling annoyed by the complicated answer._

 _I didn't even attempt to understand the Auguries musings with my fatigued brain that didn't seem to be working all that flawlessly right now._

"Why am I here?" _I asked after sorting through my subconscious and getting my priorities in line, starting with the most important question._

"Because Tamiel asked us to seal your essence away, little ghost-girl. She agreed to pay the price for it."

"What do you mean...my essence?" _I asked ,more confused than ever._

"You really do not know, ghost-girl?" _the voices now sounded even louder inside of my head, almost deafening._

 _My sluggish body flinched violently at the sudden increase in noise._

"The essence of a being, my dead little child, is what you humans might call a soul...It is a part of your past as well as your future. We'll in turn get the spell that Tamiel promised us in exchange for our work…"

"Tamiel's request will be fulfilled when the sun settles beyond the horizon once more, that's when we'll receive what we sought... You won't remember our exchange until the deal is fulfilled, so sleep now little ghost-girl..."

"W-wait Augur-" _I wanted to protest but my eyelids were slowly closing, feeling heavy ,oh so heavy…_

And then it was over, just like that.

As if somebody had pulled my head out of a bathtub, filled with freezing water, after trying to drown me in it.

A huge pressure was lifted from my chest and I could breathe freely again as all of my senses and bodily functions finally kicked into motion again after having seemingly shut down as much as possible without killing me ,as if I had been in a state of deep sleep.

My brain felt slightly empty now, having had adjusted to the deafening buzz of the voices.

I took a deep, rattling breath as I pressed my hand against my chest, feeling how my heartbeat slowly picked up speed again, telling me that ,no, I hadn't died.

I was clearly back in the world I so wanted to escape from.

Physically.

Mentally.

My eyes slowly fluttered open but I hurriedly closed them again, blinded by the bright light that I was having problems adjusting to just yet.

" _Where am I?"_

I was still in a puzzled daze whilst I at the same time strangely felt as if all symptoms of my earlier sickness had vanished into thin air...all that remained was a puckering headache.

I could feel myself laying on a soft, cushioned couch with my feet propped up and some sort of cold towel pressed against my forehead, soothing the pain behind my temples somewhat.

My body felt too heavy to move at the moment, so I settled on slightly turning my head around instead to try and locate myself.

Which turned out to be easier than I'd expected.

I instantly spotted a group of four people standing opposite the couch in the eerily familiar setting of Professor Agasa's house.

"Oh so you're an engineering graduate student?" Agasa asked cheerfully, making me furrow my eyebrows and scrunch up my nose in displeasure at the sudden source of noise.

"So someday you'll earn your doctorate and become my rival, eh?" the old, balding man joked as Ai hid behind his back, grabbing onto his shirt with wide eyes.

I had an open view of her since the side of the Professor was facing the couch I was laying on.

"No, nothing like that." Okiya Subaru denied smoothly.

"But what a big house you have." he continued saying, moving his head to take in the grande interior of the Professors abode.

" _Way to make yourself sound like the big bad wolf, Okiya-san.."_ I mused sluggishly ,before having a sudden epiphany.

" _Ah,so this is what's going on...I kind of forgot about this part."_ I realised, grimacing.

"It's just the two of you here,you and the child?" the sandy brown haired man asked, mustering Ai and the professor questioningly.

"Yes." Agasa replied with a slight nod.

"Well it doesn't seem like there would be any problem with adding another."the man stated in an even manner, seemingly seeing nothing wrong with his statement- like I had when I'd first read it in the manga.

"Eh?!" Poor Ai looked shellshocked as Conan and the Professor simply wore surprised expressions on their faces.

I'd really felt bad for the shrunken scientist back then, and even felt the same way now since she really did think an enemy of hers would be intruding on her personal safe haven.

"The thing is...the apartment building where I lived was burned down." Okiya Subaru explained to the confounded Professor, scrunching his eyebrows together into a distressed look.

I had to give one thing to the man..he was an excellent actor.

"If it's alright with you,could you let me stay here until I find another place to live in?" said person probed, mustering the old man.

Ai was almost crouching behind the Professor now,her beautiful blue eyes as wide as saucers.

"Of course,when I have free time I'll help you with your research." the disguised FBI agent offered with a friendly smile.

"Ah well,I don't mind as long as it's okay with this kid." Agasa told him with a nod before looking down to Ai to get her opinion.

Said girl glanced up from behind him with a fearful expression before shaking her head violently, making her short, auburn strands of hair whip around her small face that had taken on a ghostly pale tone.

"Say ,how about using Shinichi nii-chan's house?" Conan asked suddenly, a small smile on his face.

"Shinichi nii- chan's house?" Subaru repeated, looking confused.

"Yes, there's nobody living there right now."

Conan walked towards one of the big windows and pointed at the house which was located directly by the Agasa residence...and sadly also precisely beside where I was living right now.

"Look it's that house next door!"the little detective informed the supposed graduate student, still pointing outside the window.

"He's left the keys with me." he told the man with a broad grin.

"Oh, what a splendid western style house... Is it really okay for me to stay there?" Subaru asked in reply ,walking towards window to look at the house.

" _Yeah..and a pretty big update from a simple flat for hire like you were hiding out in before…"_ I thought ironically, sweat dropping.

"Yes." Conan nodded, confirming Subaru's question.

"Hold on!" I could see Ai whisper, dragging Conan away by his shoulder.

I couldn't hear them from where I was laying, now pretending to be asleep as I mustered them from under my eyelashes, my mouth moving slightly as I spoke their dialogue along with them, like muttering the lines of a theatre play that I'd seen thousands of times.

" _What are you thinking?!"_ I mimed along as Ai murmured these words under her breath in an aggressive manner, slightly shaking the Conan by his shoulders.

" _You're renting your house to a person whose background we don't know well!"_ I whispered, now fully closing my eyes as I recalled the scene from the anime.

" _What will you do if he finds out your secret?"_ I mimicked the lip movements of the Ai I saw in my memories.

" _It's all right."_ I remembered Conan's response to the auburn-haired girl's well grounded questions.

" _There's no way a Holmes-fan could be a bad person!"_ I copied his completely ridiculous reply, not managing to hide the small smile that hushed over my features.

That was when I for the first time became completely aware of the calculating gaze that was directed at me, being too caught up in the moment to sense it earlier.

My eyes shot open and my body snapped upright into a sitting position as a strangled sound left the back of my throat -a shocked response to my realisation.

Everybody's eyes came to rest on me as the cold towel slid down from my forehead and landed on my skirt, wetting my thighs through the fabric...quite an uncomfortable feeling as I came to find out.

"Oh, you're up!" Conan stated, walking towards me after his initial surprise.

I mustered him ,openly curious, seeing as he'd always been a bit reserved and careful around me but right now seemed almost...dare I say, concerned?

"Y-yeah...looks like it…"I managed to mutter as I peeled the towel off my body and held it in my still shaky hands.

"You gave us quite the scare when you just collapsed like that nee-chan." the little detective chided me as he grabbed the towel from my hands and pushed it against my forehead again.

"Sorry...Didn't plan on that to happen…" I sighed deeply, continuing to press the source of the calming coldness against my head after Conan let go of it.

"Kids that age are always so reckless...wouldn't you agree Okiya-san?" Agasa chuckled as he addressed me.

"Certainly." came the man's reply, making me arch my eyebrow at him in a knowing manner.

" _Me? Reckless? That's the last word that I'd use to describe myself...and look who's talking"_

I seemed to clearly express that thought though seeing as Okiya Subaru's eyes narrowed at me.

I hurriedly looked away from him and turned towards the professor again with a sheepish smile on my face.

"You're Professor Agasa then? I'm Byakuya Rio, the one that moved into number 23 just a week ago with her little sister...We never did manage to get a hold of you to introduce ourselves...You seem like a busy man." I told him in a friendly manner, slightly bowing my head as a sign of respect.

"Ah no, It's quite alright- be sure to thank your parents for the cakes you gave to Ai-chan, they were much appreciated, even though she only let me eat one of them…" he assured me, mumbling the last part to himself as a gloomy aura surrounded him.

"Ah, My Imouto and I are living on our own right now...Mama and Papa are overseas working on expanding their business." I smoothly told the Professor with a closed eyed smile.

"On your own?"Conan questioned, clearly surprised.

"Well, If you two ever need anything, don't be shy and be sure to ask me." the old man laughed heartily, making me shoot a rare, genuine smile at him.

"Thanks. That's nice of you... I'm sure you'll also be meeting my Imouto Eri quite soon,she's seemed close with that skinny freckled kid...Mitsuhiko,was it?" I told him, trying to look like I was genuinely confused when trying to remember the name of someone that I'd figuratively "grown up" with.

"Yeah, that would be really did become close for only meeting three days ago." Conan confirmed with a nod and a small grin as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trousers in a relaxed manner.

"A pity that she already got sick after her first day…" I sighed deeply, shaking my head.

"Sick? What do you mean sick? She was at school every day,wasn't she?" the little detective stated as he and Ai looked, clearly perplexed.

I paled as I felt how my blood instantly drained from my face.

"A-ah...You're right,that happened last year... I must still be confused or something like that…"

I muttered, clenching the hand around the towel I was holding.

"It's not uncommon for people to experience a minor loss of memory or slight confusion after fainting, you should take it slow for the next few days."

I almost shrieked out loud in fear when Okiya Subaru crouched down in front of me with an unreadable expression on his face.

I flinched away from the man when his eyes became fixated on the scar running across my throat, making me raise my hand and cover it before realising my actions.

"S-sure" I was quite sure that my voice rose a few octaves higher than normal judging by the calculating gazes that Conan and ,especially, Ai cast at me.

"And even though your house seems to be just around the corner you shouldn't be walking home alone, especially if there are no adults to take care of you." he stated and my brown,doe eyes widened in fear when I finally grasped what he was about to "offer" me.

" _I'll either not make it out of this alive or be put through some form of psychological torture to spit out some answers...NO THANKS!"_ I screamed inside of my head.

"I'll go with Haiba-!"

"It's okay, I'll accompany you since it looks like we'll be neighbours from now on anyways. Byakuya-san."

He cut off my protests, giving me a smile that could almost be mistaken for a friendly one if it weren't for the fact that I sensed the bad intentions behind it.

The way he dangerously stressed my last name made me fear for my just shortly acquired second life.

"That seems like a good idea. Here, these are the key to the house." Conan stated, holding out said item to Okiya Subaru, clearly oblivious to the distressed state I found myself in.

"Are you sure this is okay? That this "Shinichi-nii chan" won't mind?" Subaru asked before taking the offered keys, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I'll e-mail him later."the shrunken detective replied in an easy going tone of voice.

"Thank you. You really helped me." Subaru said, looking like a he'd just had all of his prayers answered by the little brunette boy.

I almost gagged in disgust.

"In exchange...guard the house while he's away." Conan asked of him before giving him one of his all-knowing smirks.

"Yes...of course." the sandy brown haired man promised, a small smile surfacing on his face.

I was seriously dreading whatever was to come.

 **_**

 **"Thanks for carrying Byakuya-nee over here by the way."**

Conan said with one of his sickeningly fake childish smiles as he waved us goodbye from the entrance to Agasa's house before wishing us a good night and turning around to shut close the door to the only route of escape that I could think of.

I was officially stuck.

With an FBI agent that would probably stop at nothing to get some answers from me.

An awkward silence settled as I slowly started walking behind the bespectacled man, keeping a distance of 2 meters ,which I'd deemed safe, between us all the while.

My thoughts came to rest on the vanished grim reaper again as I waked in tense silence, still confused about what the little detective had told me- that she'd been at school for the last three days, even though I was a hundred percent positive of the fact that I hadn't imagined talking to Kobayashi-sensei and excusing my pretend little sister from school for being sick with a stomach bug.

I was absolutely convinced that I hadn't just imagined that, otherwise I would've never set a foot outside the door on warm day like this if not to search for her.

That's the extent of my sluggishness and lazy habits...I'll even admit to being a little antisocial at times, especially weekends.

I also just happened to be incredible susceptible to warm weather, always feeling completely drained of energy after only just a few minutes if I wasn't walking in the shadows, a sentiment which Tamiel surprisingly seemed to share.

I'd even blacked out a few times before when either Satoru-nii,Mom,William, Kanon,Momiji or all of them together in a group effort had managed to drag me outside after much shouting and protests.

Staying inside my air conditioned room and writing my novels just seemed like the smarter choice with way less drama involved.

And Mom-kun was always over the moon when I managed to finish everything before my deadline, so he only ever complained about my bad habits when I was taking a break from "being" Ota Nao.

" _Maybe Tamiel finally returned and just played some trick on their minds? I mean she already altered the memories of Dr. Clipboard and the Nurse at the hospital…"_

I felt relief flood through me at that thought ,after sorting through all the different scenarios and theories I'd come up with over the time she'd been gone.

"Why do you seem to be afraid of me?" Okiya Subaru's voice ripped me from my thoughts as my jaw dropped ever so slightly and my mouth formed a surprised "o" shape.

I was mortified.

" _Because I'm afraid that you might kill me?!"_ was the first response that came to my mind as I stared at the back of the disguised FBI agent walking in front of me.

Instead of voicing my thought though I just painfully clamped my mouth shut as a scared expression settled on my face.

I almost ran into Okiya Subaru when he suddenly stopped walking and turned around to meet my gaze.

My heart stopped beating for a few seconds from fear when I saw that he'd now fully opened his eyes to reveal them to be the same shade of startling jade green as the ones of Akai Shuichi.

" _Crap."_

"Aren't you going to answer me, Byakuya-san?"

His gaze was as intense as my urge of running away at that moment was.

"I-" my voice was sounding a lot less stable and confident than I'd hoped for.

"I'm just a person that knows a lot about things that they shouldn't know anything about."

I formulated my reply as vaguely as possible, sensing that I wouldn't be able to pass any sort of lie by him without it being instantly noticed.

"And also someone who doesn't want to know anything about them." I added after a suspiciously quiet moment, turning my head so I wouldn't have to meet his eyes anymore.

"I see." he drawled, pushing his glasses further up his nose bridge as his eyes returned to normal.

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"How about telling me a little more? I simply insist." his fake polite manner made a ghosting of goosebumps appear over my whole body.

I could tell that he was incredibly irritated.

Indignant about not being able to find the answer to some big question ,even though it seemed to be right in front of him at this very moment.

He wasn't able to figure me out and it displeased him.

It displeased him a lot.

" _Then again...who really_ would _be able to figure you out...people would believe that you were crazy if you even attempted to tell them about what really happened. Sadly ,lies often times sound more believable than the actual truth…"_

"All that I can tell you right now is that I know who you really are, who you really work for and _why_ you're pretending to be Okiya Subaru." I told him with a defiant expression that spoke volumes.

His face remained a stony mask as I cursed the fact that it was way too hard to get a read on that man's emotions.

"Let's go inside for a bit, Byakuya-san. You shouldn't overexert yourself after fainting."

He motioned towards the Kudo's residence with his hand, a silent order to follow him and to stop discussing this matter in the open.

He opened the big iron gate to the house before casting a look over his shoulder when I stayed glued to the spot that I was standing in, gripping the sides of my skirt tightly in my tightly clenched hands, my lower lip trembling in fear.

Dread had settled in the pit of my stomach in a strangely familiar way, slowing down my body and mind to the point of infuriation.

My head was a desert right now whilst at the same time sprawling over with random ideas of escape and deception that sadly never lasted longer than the time that I needed to get a grip on them.

I'd never felt fear like this...at least in my life in this world.

"You have to promise that not a single word of what I tell you leaves this house until there's no other choice...and I also won't be able to tell you a lot."I gave him a thoughtful look, chewing on my lower lip- a habit that my mother always had scolded me for since it would rupture the skin and draw blood sometimes.

"You might not get the answers that you want to hear."

I told him, nervously tilting my head to the right in a pondering motion, making my dark brown looks fall over my shoulder as the light of the setting,orange glowing sun was caught in the caramel highlights of my hair,making them give off a mysterious golden sheen whilst casting a macabre shadow over my scarred throat.

"I'll have to take that risk." Okiya Subaru replied as the rays of light were also being cast off his glasses, obscuring his eyes from my view, which made it even harder to read him...something which seemed almost entirely impossible to me now.

I nodded shakily before wiping off my clammy hands on my skirt and stepping through the gate, which was instantly closed behind me with a final sounding clicking noise.

" _Now I get what Anna from "Frozen" felt like with all these doors always being shut on her…Elsa was a bitch."_ I thought bitterly.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you." Okiya Subaru told me as if looking right through my facade, his voice carrying a hint of amusement in it ,if I wasn't imagining things at the moment

Which was way more likely than I'd like to admit.

"Well if that isn't calming I don't know what is." I snapped back in a sarcastic manner, my defense mechanisms kicking in.

My ears turned their usual shade of embarrassed cherry red when the man simply raised on of his eyebrows at me in a smug manner.

I decided to save my wounded pride by simply marching ahead without paying our little exchange any further heed.

I actually was kind of secretly excited to take a look inside the Kudo's residence, since it was such a crucial place in both the manga and anime...and then there was also a certain library full of crime novels from all around the world.

But rummaging through this book-paradise on earth sadly wasn't my main concern right now.

I kept curiously glancing at the interior of the house as soon as Subaru had ushered me inside, trying to compare it to the manga and anime counterparts I'd already seen so many times before.

It appeared to be a perfect match.

At least I'd know the layout if I just so happened to need an escape plan for when Okiya Subaru ,aka Akai Shuichi, would actually try and off me.

"The living room seems like a good place to have this conversation.." the sandy brown haired man behind me suddenly spoke up, clearly thinking out loud, almost making me leap into the air in fright.

Another smug smile flitted over his his face as I gave him a death glare, tightly clutching the fabric over my heart that was now beating dangerously fast, fluttering against my ribcage like an imprisoned bird that was desperately trying to escape.

But just like me, the bird remained caged.


	12. Chapter 11: Vague Confessions

**A/N: Sorry for my little hiatus...writers block hit me hard and school was being a pain in the a, but now I'm finally back with another ,quite long chapter (Yay!)**

 **Thank you so, so much for all your sweet reviews by the way, they really encourage me to keep this story going! (Even though I honestly thought it was crap in the beginning :'D)**

 **WARNING:** **Something I ought to mention here is that- if you get squeamish around blood and all things gory- you might want to re-think reading the second half of this chapter (after Rio leaves the Kudo families house)- though why would you be reading a DC fanfic in the first place then, right? ;D...I all honesty though-I'm frankly not too sure if maybe I should rate this chapter "M"...huh.**

 **Disclaimer (that I always seem to forget adding...whelp): I do not own Meitantei Conan, but if I ever found an enchanted lamp I'd readily use on of my three wished on doing so!**

 **Allons-y!**

 **Chapter 11: Vague confessions**

I nervously fiddled with my hands as I sat on a black leather couch across from Okiya Subaru, who was currently reclined in a matching leather chair across from me, expectantly waiting for me to start talking.

Most curiously, all I could form any coherent thoughts and opinions about was Kudo Yukiko's great sense of room decor...that just might have something to do with the invisible blade of a guillotine ominously hanging over my head, I even had the freaking scar to match it already.

"I think this might be easier if you just start asking questions and I'll try and answer as much as I can…" I told the man, all the while shooting desperate glances at the door in hopes that someone would burst through it any moment now and save me from this bizarre predicament that I found myself faced with. Preferably Tamiel.

But I had no such luck.

Tamiel seemed to have been right about my shitty karma, not that I needed to have that fact confirmed for myself- my losing streak in card and boardgames was definitely something to marvel at, and in my opinion that already spoke for itself.

"I agree." Subaru slightly inclined his head in a simple nod before instantly asking his first question, clearly not being one to dance around any sensitive topics and wasting time with pleasantries.

"So you know who I really am then?"

"Akai Shuichi, an FBI agent that went undercover to try and uproot Kuro no Soshiki." I replied nervously, fidgeting with the hem of my tee as I leaned as far back into the couch as possible, hoping that maybe the piece of furniture could just swallow me up forever if I pressed into it hard enough.

The man sitting across from me turned scarily still as he let my words sink in.

"And how ,might I ask, did you come by this confidential information?" he inquired in a dangerously calm tone of voice that unconsciously made me break out in a nervous sweat as my fidgeting got even worse.

I'd always been bad at lying to people that I was afraid of.

"I-I just,well...It's so hard to explain I guess…"

I sighed hopelessly, furrowing my brows as I put my right hand to my face and started tapping my Index finger against my cheek again- like I always did when I was lost for words, in an uncomfortably awkward situation or simply in deep thought about something. The "awkward situation bit" applied to my social life in general, so you could go figure just how often I actually habitually did this.

A lot.

"I know some things... about important past and future events regarding certain individuals- including you." I tried to explain without giving away too much, my own tongue betraying me as I stumbled over my words, not too sure about _just what_ I should actually tell him.

"Certain Individuals?" Subaru narrowed his eyes at me in an apprehensive manner.

"I don't think I can tell you much more about that…" I muttered, actually feeling a bit guilty about withholding the answer.

"I understand." he seemed a little frustrated with my useless reply as he draped his legs over each other before leaning forward a bit.

"Why were you at Haido hospital back then?" the agent probed me further.

"Passed out in the middle of an intersection." Technically that wasn't even a lie.

Subaru arched an eyebrow at me.

"Fainting seems to be a frequent occurrence with you then?"

"No. Not really." I quipped with a tiny frown as I continued to tap my finger against my cheek... It was probably pretty obvious from my body language that I didn't enjoy being cross-examined. At all.

"Do you happen to know anything about a certain...organisation?" Subaru's black rimmed glasses glinted ominously as he quizzed me once again.

My face muscles went slack at that question and my hand stilled in its movement as I tensed up.

This wasn't got. Not at all.

This was going to be a hard one to get out of, unscathed at that, when all I could do was internally scream " _NOPE! MISSION ABORT! NOW!_ " instead of coming up with a satisfactory answer.

"I don't really know much about them as _individuals_ as much as I am aware about their _function_ in said organisation…I'm only in the know about certain members such as Gin,Vodka, Vermouth,Bourbon, Kir, Chianti, Korn,Pisco,Tequila,Rum, Sherry...and Rye of course…"

I rattled down the list of codenames,getting a bit winded as the names just went on and on (" _Man, I never even realised that there were so many of them...Yay, more material for nightmares!"),_ adding the last alias as more of an afterthought ,seeing as "Rye", or "Dai Moroboshi" as he'd also been called, had been one of the many names that Akai Shuichi had went by- using that particular name when he'd tried to invade the organisation as an undercover agent.

...Things back then had gone rather sideways, obviously- especially with poor Miyano Akemi.

I decided not to mention anything about her though. The manga and anime had shown over and over again that her death was still something of a fresh wound for Akai Shuichi and I didn't have a deathwish (" _Wow, that sounded way more punny than I expected it to…")_

"So you know about that too." He trailed off, fully opening his slanted green eyes for the second time this day to transfix me with a long, appraising look.

I didn't know wether to be proud of my achievement or if it was a sign for me to pack up my bags and move as far away from this world's Japan as I could, preferably under a new Identity.

"Can you tell me about Bourbon?" he inquired, making me realise for the first time that I'd automatically mentioned the codename along with the all the others.

" _Well shit. Here we go."_

I almost wanted to smack myself clean in the face for my slip-up,I mean I could have just pretended to be oblivious about Bourbon, which would've made my life a whole lot easier right now- but _no_ I just had to stutter out his name like the bumbling idiot I turned into sometimes.

Hurray.

"Bourbon is…" I started drumming my fingers against my cheek at a rapid pace, my mind running a hundred miles an hour as I tried to find the right words to describe Bourbon without giving away too much.

"Neither friend nor foe...he's...on his own side I guess, which is still on the side of justice? But there is no denying that he's ruthless,at least from what I know." I recounted with a shudder and a dark look as I remembered that the man I was talking about had ,or in this world was going to, almost run over an elementary school teacher with his car just to drive out the FBI. " _Well, doesn't that sound just delightful?"_

"Interesting." Subaru drawled, putting his hand to his chin in thought.

Sometimes I wondered why _everyone_ here seemed to have a special thinking stance, It just somehow seemed unnecessary to me- they could give off the general notion of being a thousand times smarter than you even without that, and in my overactive imagination I'd figured that they were well aware of that fact and just did the whole 'special-stance' thingy to rub it into everyone's face...or maybe that's just what I would do.

"I can't tell you much more about Kuro no Soshiki...at least not _yet…_ " I stressed the last part since I'd figured I might be able to save a few lives in the future if I shared my knowledge with the agent at the right time and place. Which definitely wasn't now.

"I understand."

I couldn't tell from his response if he was let down by my answer or not.

"It's kind of strange talking to you like this…" I suddenly admitted, surprising even myself, as Subaru just looked at me in an inquiring manner.

"Until I ran into you at the hospital I always kind of thought that all of this was just a figment of my imagination running wild." I elaborated , grimacing at the sheer awkwardness of it all as I made some kind of strange gesture with my hand.

That statement was really only a little white lie, seeing as I really did first become aware of my dimensional travel when I'd stumbled into the agent at the rooftop of Haido hospital.

"That must've been quite a shock." the bespectacled man mused, inclining his head towards me.

"Actually...I was kind of glad." I confessed, instantly catching his full attention once more.

"Why?" he asked, furrowing his brows in confusion.

"I was starting to think that maybe I'd lost my mind somewhere along the way, Imagining things like these so vividly...I even remember wishing for some " _characters"_ to be real since this world would be a lot safer with them around...except for the organisation members, god, they gave me nightmares like no other."

I admitted with another small grimace.

The part about the nightmares was true though...my nine year old self had to sleep with the lights on on more than just a few occasions in fear of BO members (especially Gin) breaking into the room and killing me.

Fun times.

"I guess I can understand that..." Subaru nodded slowly.

"Ah. I've been wanting to ask you something else for a while now." the man suddenly spoke up again, surprising me a bit.

"What happened to your throat?"

I visibly stiffened at that question ,my blood quickly draining from my face whilst my fingertips automatically ghosted up against my scar.

"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you." I said, a dark look hushing over my features.

"You won't know if you don't try." Subaru urged me, furrowing his eyebrows.

" _I'm already dead."_

These words hung in the air between us for a few seconds, creating a thick, tangible tension that suddenly made it hard for me to breath,and quite quickly it almost got too much for me to bear.

"Not bad, you almost got me there." Okiya Subaru stated with a small smile as he folded his hands together in his lap.

"It was worth a try."I sighed, slumping forward a bit on the couch as my hands fell away from my throat.

"I was kidnapped when I was little and when the deal went awry my abductor tried to kill me." I informed him evenly, recalling what Tamiel had told me a few days ago.

During all that I felt a strange form of disappointment clench my heart in its iron fist. It kind of hurt not being believed when I was actually telling the full truth for once. Though I knew that acknowledging and grasping what had happened to me would be beyond any normal human's comprehension. I was kind of amazed that I myself hadn't gone insane yet. Or maybe I hadn't and just never realised it?

I genuinely wouldn't even be surprised anymore. Tamiel did mention something about my mental health percentage being down in the dumps, right?

"That's...unfortunate. I'm sorry for asking." the bespectacled man apologised in a strangely genuine manner.

"Ah,It's quite alright." I assured him with an unreadable closed eyed smile, letting the familiar mask of antipathy, that I'd been wearing so much ever since I'd arrived here, slip onto my face as I felt myself completely clam up to the man. Him not believing me had rattled me more than what I'd like to admit, even though I'd been more than just expecting this response- I'd actually been counting on it, in hopes of teaching myself to keep my mouth shut about this matter around others if I knew how much telling the truth and not being taken seriously hurt.

"Were there any more questions?" I asked tensely, about ready to slump together on this couch and just close my eyes forever.

Inquiries like this were exhausting, emotionally and mentally.

"Just one more." he stated, making me unsure if I should be relieved or not.

"Is anybody,except for me, aware about your...insight?" he probed, ostensibly at a loss for a word to describe my strange circumstances.

"No...I told Conan and the other kids that I could talk to souls when he asked me about Haido hospital." I tapped my finger against my chin once more, hoping that the agent wouldn't try and question my course of action, but of course I wasn't that lucky.

"Souls?" he repeated, looking faintly amused.

He wouldn't be that amused if he knew _what_ I'd told the little detective and the shrunken scientist to throw them off my about the whole Miyano Akemi part... _Yikes._

"I told them that they posses me sometimes in an attempt to make him believe that I had no recollections of ever meeting you." I admitted, sheepishly scratching the beauty mark under my right eye.

"Why would you do that?" he arched one of his eyebrows at me in a questioning manner.

"Nobody would be especially thrilled about the prospect of having the FBI think of you as a suspicious person...and I'm not really all about becoming another one of the organisations nameless victims, just because I know more than I should. I never asked to be in a situation like this." I explained myself with a deep sigh.

"A comprehensible thought." Subaru acknowledged, changing the position of his feet so that they were firmly planted on the ground once more.

My eyes subconsciously followed the movement in a wary manner, like a gazelle never taking it's eyes of the lion that was slowly approaching it- ready to pounce.

"I believe that I asked enough of you ,Byakuya-san, at least for today." Okiya Subaru told me as he gracefully got up from his chair.

"And I do hope that the secret of my real identity is safe with you…" his voice sounded way too threatening for those words to be a simple reminder.

"I'll try to the best of my abilities." I answered cryptically before standing up as well, not wanting to make promises that I might've to break at one point or another.

Sure, Shuichi Akai/ Okiya Subaru had always been one of my absolute favourite characters in the anime and manga ,but I certainly wasn't about to be killed a second time just because I knew of his little secret. I was a little too self centered for that (" _Yeah so what, I really like living,okay?_ "), though I'd always found that aspect to be quite healthy (aka good for survival) in certain situations...such as this one.

"The same goes for me of course, I don't plan telling anyone about what you've just told me." Okiya Subaru sated, putting his hand out for me to shake.

"Let's make one thing clear...If I get killed over this little agreement of ours I swear that I'll come back to haunt you. And you won't like it." I threatened, narrowing my eyes at the man in front of me before gripping his hand and finalising our promise with a steady shake.

I was already starting to regret my decision when I spotted a little smile on his face.

"Ya. Matane." I stated with a bow before skilfully sidestepping the bespectacled man.

I started running as soon as I'd closed the door to the Kudo's living room behind me.

" _Faster...Faster!"_ I kept pushing myself inwardly, trying to ignore the painful stabbing sensation in my lungs clearly telling my body that I was using up more oxygen then there was to begin with, probably not the best thing seeing as I was asthmatic...and now I was suffering the consequences.

But I just couldn't bring myself to care.

If I'd still been suffering from the same symptoms as earlier today I probably would've already thrown up a few times by now.

" _Just how are you going to survive in this world being in a shape as bad as yours? I know that you hate sports because you suck at them and your asthma served as a solid excuse for avoiding physical activities your whole life...but still!"_ I angrily scolded myself as I fumbled to open the front door to my "home" with my keys.

My shaky hands were making that simple task unnecessarily complicated and it took me a few (...way too many) tries until the lock finally clicked and the door swung open to let me inside, making me praise every god that I could think of in gratitude.

My relief however was cut short when I realised something.

I'd definitely put out all the lights last night and not used them again all day today.

" _So why is it that the floor light is burning along with the one in the kitchen?"_

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion as I snuck inside and closed the door behind me as silently as possible, trying to calm down my loud, laboured breath.

My eyes fell onto a big, red utility knife that conveniently lay on the small table that had been placed at the entrance beside a small dish for all the keys to the house.

I distantly remembered Tamiel using the knife to open some of the boxes that Mr. Shin had deposited here, a big grin on her face as she curiously took a look inside. They'd turned out to be full of manuscripts for my series of crime-novels, much to the little grim reapers obvious disappointment ,which had somehow managed to piss e off more than it should've.

I probingly picked up the item and weighed it in the palm of my hand before retracting the thin razor blade, going through my options in my head.

" _I could go back and ask Okiya-san or the Professor for help, but I don't know if this is even a serious situation and I really don't want to have to have to face that scary agent again... I should be able to take care of this myself...right? Maybe it's just Tamiel!"_

I decided to bravely (just another word for stupid in my opinion) step into the illuminated kitchen, my default defensive weapon raised readily in case anyone should try and attack me.

As it turned out, my fears were completely unfounded. But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw in there.

" _Tamiel!"_

My brown eyes widened in shock as I took in the little grim reaper, instantly forgetting about every negative feeling or aversion that I'd ever felt toward the Shinigami.

There was blood.

A lot of _bloody_ blood.

So much of it that the little girl was completely coated in the scarlet substance as a puddle of the metallic smelling, sirupy- liquid expanded outwards around her small frame.

Her face had become so covered by gore that I hadn't realised at first that she wasn't even looking like Byakuya Eri anymore, instead having morphed back into her original body.

Her shoulder length black tresses were sticking to her face, the blood working as an adhesive, as her unnaturally blue eyes were erratically moving back and forth behind her half closed eyes, focusing and unfocusing as her pupils dilated and shrunk again at seemingly random pace.

I could tell that she was unresponsive as I fell onto my knees at her side, the utility knife clattering to the floor beside me- long forgotten.

The little girl ,that now looked to be around eleven years old again, was desperately clutching onto the fabric of her once ghostly white dress ,that had by now been dyed into a deep rusty red, over her chest with a pained expression and a steely grip that made her knuckles turn white...or maybe that was just the result of her losing way too much blood way too fast, at least from what I could tell.

Her breath came out in short, irregular little gasps and it looked like she was suffering greatly from even trying to take in the oxygen that was necessary for her to survive.

I acted quickly as my panicked brain called upon my mediocre photographic memory, that really only ever worked in life or death situations, as I started recalling the details of Williams medical and anatomy books in scarily great detail, suddenly more appreciative of the fact that the lanky, raven haired boy with a passion for teasing me had decided to work hard towards becoming a clinical surgeon than ever.

I also decided that being so bored that I'd started reading his (illegally) heavy textbooks was a good thing.

"Oi!Tamiel! You have to stay with me, you hear me?!" I yelled at her in a panicked tone of voice, but to my buzzing ears it sounded more like a spoiled brat not being able to accept the fact that their favourite pet had just died instead of the actual encouragement that I had meant for it to be.

Me head suddenly shot up when suspicion dawned on me.

Now utility knife lying beside me _did_ become useful just like I'd expected, but in a very different situation.

Slicing the long razor blade through the disgustingly sticky fabric of the grim reapers dress was surprisingly easy.

I gasped for air when my eyes fell onto a huge, purple discolouration on her chest, at the exact spot where her hand had been clutching at the dress- confirming what I'd been expecting.

But what was I to do now?

" _Remember! You need to remember Rio! NOW!"_

I tightly closed my eyes, and pressed my bloodied hands over my ears to stop my head from spinning ,desperately trying to recall how to make the dark go away as I hastily performed CPR on the grim reaper all the while.

" _Ew...this is disgusting!"_

 _I had an amused look on my face as I cast a glance back at the burgundy-red haired Japanese girl sitting behind me._

 _She was wearing an expression of absolute horror on her face as she scrunched up her petite nose and shoved the heavy text book in front of her into the face of the lanky teenager that sat on the seat beside me._

" _Why are you making me and Rio carry these encyclopedias of gore?! Do you have no shame, Bluestone William?"_

 _Said boy let out a sheepish laugh as he took the book from her, before running a hand through his coal black locks._

" _Sorry Kanon, I did warn you about looking at the pictures, didn't I?"_

" _No. You didn't, Li." I told him in an unimpressed manner, secretly amused as I pushing my round glasses up on my nose bridge with my right hand, whilst lazily munching on an apple-flavoured lollipop._

" _Oi! You're supposed to have my back!" William complained, narrowing his striking, steel grey eyes at me from behind his square shaped reading glasses that he ,like the constantly confused person he was, had forgotten to take off seeing as we had to perform an olympics worthy sprint from the library to get to the bus that we were currently on in time._

" _Every man for himself, in love and war." I told him with my trademark, shark-like grin._

" _You're just as bad, Rio...always writing and talking about those creepy murders!" the redhead piped up from behind us, pretending to be shuddering in a dramatic manner to emphasize her point._

" _They're not that bad, Kanon…" I mumbled, my left eye twitching in annoyance._

" _Half our class thinks that you're secretly a serial killer or sociopath, so I have to agree with Kanon on this...it's pretty bad." William laughed, which resulted in a painful kick to his shin from me._

" _Traitor. She was complaining about you at first." I clicked my tongue at the teen, who was now writhing in pain as Kanon laughed loudly at his misfortune and gave me a thumbs up._

" _But the pictures aren't_ that _bad…" I huffed, opening one of the medical books that was placed on my lap on a random page._

" _Says the girl that regularly looks at photos and video footage from real crime scenes...you're just way too desensitised." Kanon pouted, throwing her long hair over her shoulder with a simple flick of her wrist._

 _I ignored her comment in favour of one of the pictures inside the book that caught my attention._

" _What's that?" I asked curiously, furrowing my brows as I pointed my finger at the picture of a huge, discoloured purple bruise splayed over a chest._

" _Gathering of blood in the lungs…" William hissed, still massaging his aching knee._

" _I see…"I mused, cocking my head to the right as I started tapping my Index finger against my cheek in thought._

" _You can help someone by puncturing their lungs to let them breath." he told me, pushing up his reading glasses on his nose bridge just like I'd done before._

" _What? Like with a kitchen knife?" Kanon snorted, grimacing._

" _Yeah. That is If you want to help them_ die." _William replied with a slight roll of his eyes._

" _That would make for a good murder plot in my next novel…" I muttered under my breath, pushing my fingers against the bridge of my glasses with a little smirk._

" _Every sane person would use something like a pen or something with a small, sharp edge! You hear me? A pen!" William shouted loudly as I pretended to not to be hearing anything he was saying by covering my ears._

" _Shut up, Li!" Kanon and I chided at the same time, realising that the people around us had turned strangely ashen and a mother was even tried to shield her child from the topic of our conversation, judging us with her disturbed looks._

"Pen! I need a pen!" My eyes snapped open as I shouted out these words.

I hurriedly stood up on my shaky legs and darted into the living room where I knew that I'd placed some pencils for sketching.

I cursed when I knocked over the little cup with pens and pencils in it after trying to pick it up- but having my shaking hand disobey me, spilling them all over the floor with an unpleasantly loud clattering noise.

When my eyes fell onto one of my fountain pens I didn't waste any time in picking it up and running back into the kitchen, where I hastily dropped onto the floor beside Tamiel.

"I'm sorry about this…" I muttered as I raised the pen high above my head, tightly gripping it with both my hands that felt a little slippery around the object because of the blood that was coating them.

I clenched my eyes tightly shut as I brought the sharp iron tip down with all my might, piercing the little grim reapers skin directly through her bruise.

A small,choked cry escaped me in the process and I could feel vomit burning at the back of my throat.

Pressing it through the tissue was more difficult than I'd imagined...

As soon as the pen entered her flesh the Shinigamis creepy, blue eyes flew wide open and her hands gripped tightly onto mine where I was holding the pen.

The expression on her face was one of total and utter shock and bewilderment before her eyes rolled back and her head hit the cold kitchen tiles again.

I let out a sigh of relief when I heard her coughing and spluttering for a while before her breathing returned to what could be considered normal.

A gasping noise escaped my mouth when I saw that the wound around the fountain pen was already starting to heal, so I hurriedly pulled out the object with a sickening squelch that made my stomach turn in protest.

I barely made it to the sink before throwing up the only thing inside of my belly right now, which turned out to be stomach acid seeing as I hadn't consumed anything but tons of tea along with five crackers for more than 40 hours now because of my worries, guilt and sickness.

Glady the act made me feel better ,safe for the uncomfortable burning sensation at the back of my throat.

I shakily turned towards Tamiel again as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

She was looking much better now, seeing as some colour had returned to her pale cheeks and instead of being in a painful state of unconsciousness she was now fully passed out, breathing evenly as she curled her arms around herself.

" _She's probably cold."_ I thought, feeling completely exhausted.

I bent down and tried picking up the little girl, which I only was able to do after my fifth, pathetically weak try.

I stumbled on my way into the bathroom, frequently running into walls, leaving a trail of blood in my path. (" _I didn't think a body could even hold this much blood…")_

Finally, I lowered Tamiel into the bathtub.

I stripped her of her tattered and bloody clothes before letting her small head rest against the porcelain rim behind her as I started the process of opening the tabs ,slowly filling the tub with water at body temperature.

I hurried out the room and darted up the stairs into my own one, falling a few times in the darkness, before throwing open my door and charging towards my closet.

I pulled out almost all of the clothes that I owned, simply discarding them on the wooden floor until I found something that I could make use of.

I tightly gripped a simple white T-shirt in my hands and raced back to Tamiel again.

Fifteen exhausting minutes later the little grim reaper was lying tucked in under the covers of my bed, freshly bathed and clothed.

It had taken me awhile to scrub off all the dried blood and grime of her body and the work was tedious and stressful.

My expression softened when I realised how tiny and frail the girl looked in my oversized T-shirt.

To my comfort, her chest was rising and falling evenly under the white covers.

She'd given me another scare when she'd suddenly stopped breathing once more for a few seconds when I was putting some fresh clothes onto her.

A few simple compressions gladly did the trick.

"Just what happened did you do, idiot Shinigami?" I questioned the girl aloud, looking at the sleeping god of death in an inquiring way.

"Just live. That's all I want you to do." I stated tiredly as I slumped down onto my knees in front of my bed.

I wasn't strong enough to keep my eyelids from closing anymore.

I collapsed from exhaustion and finally let sleep come over my view.


	13. Chapter 12: Gamechanger

**A/N : Sooo...I know I haven't been updating for a while now and what else can I say but "Sorry", life's been hectic and I couldn't really find the time to sit down and write until a few weeks ago.**

 **I really hope you'll enjoy this new chapter though, so please r &r (I'm always good with constructive criticism by the way, so go ahead ;))**

 **Disclaimer: I ,obviously, don't own Meitantei Conan**

 **Chapter 12: Gamechanger**

" _Little ghost-girl. I want you to remember what we told you."_

" _And don't forget to tell the Shinigami that we received her payment."_

" _The pact was fulfilled."_

" _The Augur kept his word."_

" _We entrapped the rotten essence, little dead girl."_

" _We gave you a new chance."_

" _Use it well, or despair will fall upon you should the spell break."_

" _And if you ever feel like it you are free to visit us is a lonely thing."_

" _May you be blessed, no matter the sins you committed in the past."_

" _Awaken now. Byakuya Riko."_

My eyes instantly snapped open as the last echoing words died out inside of my head.

I remembered everything now.

My visit to the Augury.

The strange deal with Tamiel that it had told me about.

I sat up with a groan.

My body felt stiff and sore, which was most likely a result of me falling asleep on the floor in front of my bead.

I narrowed my eyes when I realised that there was a warm duvet covering my curvy frame.

My bed was empty.

"Tamiel?!" I asked out loud, slightly panicked as I scrambled on all fours to hurriedly stand up.

I cussed loudly as I slammed my shoulder into the doorframe on my way out and when I stubbed my toes on my race down the staircase.

"Tamiel?!" I shouted out again, this time receiving a response as the little god of death poked her head out the door of the kitchen, looking like Byakuya Eri again, her trademark smile greeting me.

Somehow it didn't seem all that unpleasant anymore, the smile that is.

"Oh…" I hurriedly made my way towards the girl, gripping her tightly by the shoulders and shaking her slightly.

"Do you know how worried you had me for you?!Where were did you disappear to? What even happened?! Are you feeling alright now or does it hurt anywhere?" The questions all tumbled out my rapidly moving mouth at a surprisingly fast pace , the words becoming slightly jumbled.

"It's alright now, Rio-nee. Thank you."

The little girl's face morphed into the most gentle and loving expression of eternal gratefulness that I'd ever seen anyone display, stopping me short in my tracks.

"You Idiot. Don't ever leave me all on my one here again. I'll kill you." I sobbed as I felt a familiar pressure build up behind my eyes.

I drew the god of death in a tight hug, stubbornly refusing to let her see the fresh tears that were now pouring down my face like a hot,salty waterfall.

Sobs wracked my body as Tamiel simply stood still, patiently patting my back as she waited for to cease my cries that were painfully rubbing raw my throat.

My heart felt heavier than ever when I realised that, had the Shinigami died yesterday, I wouldn't have ever been able to rely to her that I actually needed her.

She would've died all alone.

"You look like you killed someone." the god of death mocked me playfully, making me release her in favour of looking at myself in the reflection of the windows for the first time since my little desperate operation on the cold floor tiles of the kitchen.

She was right.

My previously light clothes and pale skin were coated in dry blood from head to toe and the annoying, sticky liquid had even found its way on my dark brown, wavy locks.

I grimaced.

I'd have to throw away my once white over-knee socks...there was no saving them.

"I might just murder you if you ever pull something like that again!" I told her, narrowing my eyes ,that were now red from crying, at the girl.

"Promise." Tamiel nodded happily, making her short black hair bob up and down.

"How did you even end up like that?" I pressed on, more than just a little curious as I brushed away the last remnants of my tears with both my hands.

"I had to get something from HQ...the others didn't seem to agree with me taking said thing." Tamiel told me evenly, her smile never fading.

"Might that something be...the spell that the Augury kept on talking about?" I asked carefully, thinking back to the cryptic words that the strange echoing voice had told me about.

Tamiel's eyes widened excitedly when I mentioned the strange being and her small hand gripped my chin in a creepily strong grip for a seven year old, turning it to side to side.

"You remember?How is your head? Do you notice anything different?" the little girl inquired hastily, eagerly awaiting my reply.

I freed myself from her grip and carefully took a look around, squinting my eyes as I gently massaged my now throbbing chin.

The colours around me somehow seemed sharper and more vivid.

My body felt lighter and it was as if the troubles of last nights had never existed in the first place seeing as I wasn't feeling the effects of it.

Another strange thing was that my head was cleared and I actually felt at peace.

Bad thoughts had been running through my mind since I'd arrived here and I now found them gone for the first time.

I let out an amazed breath of air as I looked at my pretend little sister.

"What the heck is going on?" I questioned, barely above a whisper as I continued to look at my reflection in amazement, wanting to take see if my body had undergone any sort of physical changes as well.

...No such look.

I sourly huffed at my reflection.

"I made a deal with the Augury so that he'd cut off the influence that the essence of a certain person was having on you." Tamiel told me cheerfully, clapping her hands together.

"Wait, a certain person?!…? And what spell was the Augury talking about?!" I desperately pressed the girl for more answers to satisfy my curiosity.

Was that how Okiya Subaru had felt yesterday?

"I won't be able to use my powers for a while, that's why I needed you to be able to protect your own mind. The Augury agreed to my request in exchange for a spell that will hide him from anyone searching him out with bad intentions. That old creep is really protective of his own dimension…" Tamiel elaborated, nodding her head along with her words.

"What the hell is going on here…?"

My head was spinning, still trying to adjust to my changes whilst all the while trying to make sense of the Shinigami's confusing admissions.

"Mr. Shin...never existed in the first place." Tamiel told me as her smile suddenly seemed a little sad.

" _What?!"_

"But-"

The Shinigami interrupted my outburst by placing her small finger on my lips in a shushing gesture.

"I was the one that created this house. I was the one that hid you away in this pocket dimension after reviving your soul."

" _That...how? What…?!"_

Chills crawled their way up my back as I froze in place.

A sickening, foreboding feeling settled in the pit of my stomach, making me want to just childishly cover my ears so I wouldn't have to hear the next words to be spoken.

I felt like I'd be better of not knowing.

"I was also the one that went against all of my orders and the Shinigami code of honour to ensure that you'd live the best life possible after dying unexpectedly like that."

"That's why, right now, I am a wanted fugitive in my world...one of the worst at that." She admitted with an exhausted expression that felt foreign and out of place on her face, making my feelings of nausea worsen even more.

"They might be able to track me when I use my abilities...and if they find me...they have received urgent orders to execute me without any hesitation."

All I could do was to stare at the Shinigami in front of me as the pressure of her fingers against my lips vanished and she gave me another gentle smile that still somehow spoke of an underlying sadness.

"B-but why…" my brain felt like it had just short circuited, unable to come up with any proper words above the conversational ability of a three year old child.

"I committed treason because... _It was partly my fault that you died._ "

My mouth snapped shut and my eyebrows instantly arched upwards, almost disappearing into my hairline.

It took me a while to think clear again as hot anger, heavy weighing dread and dizzying confusion were mixed together into a lethal poison inside my mindd.

But in the end it was my icy cold self control that reigned victorious over those three.

And I wanted an explanation.

Now.

"I want the whole story." I voiced my thoughts, building a mental wall in between my logical thinking side and the ancient,angry one that just wanted to smash and destroy everything in my way.

Especially the little grim reaper in front of me.

"You were always going to die that day."

My heart stopped for a few seconds at that statement as a strange, hollow feeling spread through my whole body, making it go numb.

So unbelievably numb.

A numbness that provided sanctuary and prevented me from having a complete mental meltdown.

"Your bad karma wouldn't have been enough for your soul to be reincarnated for the next twenty thousand years so the court made a common decision to simply banish your essence, your soul if you will, into non-existence."

All air was knocked out of me as I felt like I'd just received a hard punch to the gut.

It was stomach-turning.

I mean, I didn't fully understand what she was saying, but I definitely got the gist of it. And it wasn't good.

"I would've simply...ceased to be then?" I breathed, greatly disturbed at that prospect.

Tamiel's reply was a simple nod as she displayed an uncharacteristically grim frown on her pretty face.

I unceremoniously let myself stumble to the floor and onto my knees, unable to support myself any longer.

When I looked up again I found myself on eye level with the short Shinigami...a strange feeling to say the least.

"Let's just say that I had my own, selfish reasons for not letting that happen- which is the why you're still alive right now." Tamiel told me with a small smile.

I was still stupidly staring at her, my body unable to move as my mouth opened and closed on its own accord, not able to produce any sound except for a single, strangled whimper.

"You were supposed to be pushed in front of your train home by a heavily intoxicated man...but I instead arranged for Yonehara Haruto to kill you along with his girlfriend in an attempt to cover up his crime."

My sanity had officially just bidden me goodbye and handed in an official leave of absence.

"As cruel as it sounds...the thirty second time difference in between the head on collision with the train and slowly bleeding out from a sliced neck was all I needed to guide your soul to this world." Tamiel explained, sounding like she was trying to explain something to a child, which I found strangely funny in a macabre sort of way seeing as _she_ was the one looking like a seven year old.

I simply didn't know what to think anymore.

Everything I'd known since coming here had just turned out to be a lie.

And my new life seemed way more complicated than what it was worth.

Maybe eternal damnation into nothingness wasn't so bad?

" _That's a ton of trash and you know it."_ I scolded myself angrily.

I didn't want to simply disappear as if I'd never even existed in the first place.

"T-thank you Tamiel…" I stuttered, blinking at the Shinigami that seemed momentarily taken aback.

So was I.

Did I really just let these words slip out?

"You're not going to get angry? Or shout at me? Slap me?" she made sure, mustering me unsurely.

"Just who do you take me for?!" I drawled, my left eye twitching in annoyance as I felt a few involuntary tears slide down my cheeks.

"I know that I act erratically sometimes, but I'm not so blind and selfish as to oversee the fact that you actually saved my life, nor am I going to get angry at you for preventing me from vanishing. forever." I added, furrowing my eyebrows a I slowly regained my bearings, having somewhat digested the information I'd just been given.

"You're more reasonable that I made you out to be…" Tamiel murmured, making me narrow my watering eyes at her once again.

"I'm not that bad of a person once you get to know me properly...I just have a talent for scaring others off." I huffed, slightly embarrassed.

"I know." Tamiel nodded, a nostalgic smile on her face.

"How would you know? We two are still in the scaring-off-phase." I told her in a prickly manner.

"I know you better than you might think." the Shinigami told me with her trademark smile.

I rolled my eyes at her.

She was starting to sound like a right psychology-quack now.

"So how does this 'essence thingy' work then? And can't _I_ still be tracked by the Shinigami ?" I questioned the little girl, getting straight to the point.

"Ah, there might still be moments where the person you were cut off from will try to take control over your mind again...especially in moments of mental weakness" Tamiel explained, making me panic a bit.

"W-what person?!H-how do I stay in control?!" I shrieked, automatically reaching to cradle my head.

"Someone who wants your sanity, that's all I can tell you so far. And to answer your second question- you should be fine since the Augury will protect you in those moments." Tamiel sighed with a fond smile on her face, slapping my hands away from my head as she went on to cradle my face in her small palms.

"Everything will be alright." she assured me, seemingly looking into my soul as her charcoal orbs met my brown ones.

"This is stupid." I sighed, closing my eyes (a little unnerved by the staring competition that I'd involuntarily been forced to compete in) as I leaned into her touch with scowl on my face.

" _This is some straight up_ bad _B-horror movie crap."_ I thought sourly.

"Wait...If you can't use your powers anymore...doesn't that mean that you won't be able to provide for us?" I suddenly realised, jerking my head away from the little girl.

"Ah..yeah,that's right…"the Shinigami admitted sheepishly.

"Didn't you find some of the manuscripts for my novels?" I asked with a sigh.

" _Guess I'll just have to take up writing again…"_ I thought in a defeated manner.

Trying to come up with ideas for new novels after publishing all of the manuscripts that I owned right now seemed pretty stressful considering the mess I was finding myself in.

"If I'm right about what you're planning then that's a surprisingly good idea…" the Shinigami nodded.

"Looks like I'll have to debut again...that stuff is so freaking nerve-wracking!" I whined loudly, angrily messing up my mane of brown locks.

"That's the spirit!" the little girl told me enthusiastically, flashing me a big grin.

I huffed at her in a frustrated manner.

"I don't know about you...but I could use some breakfast right now." I stated grimly before getting up, changing the topic as I walked inside the kitchen to rummage through "the wonder fridge".

I spent the next two hours cooking everything that Tamiel and I were having even the tiniest craving for.

All I remember after that was falling asleep at the table whilst complaining to my pretend little sister about the cross-examination that Okiya Subaru had put me through just a day earlier and that she just couldn't imagine how freaking hard writing a crime novel was and how shitty most publishers were.

Looks like the Shinigami wasn't so bad after all...


End file.
